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The Bunker – News without the nonsense

Degrees of Debt – How university fees went wrong

The Bunker – News without the nonsense

Podmasters

News, Government, Politics, Society & Culture

4.61K Ratings

🗓️ 28 October 2022

⏱️ 28 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

When university fees shot up to £9,000 in 2012 they triggered violent protests. Now Britain’s universities are expecting redundancies and even bankruptcy – and they’re hooked on lucrative foreign students. Can we carry on funding education from fees, or is it time for a graduate tax? And do we need to rethink what students get for their money? Ros Taylor talks to Nick Hillman, Director of the Higher Education Policy Institute think tank. “Lifelong learning was hit hardest by the increase in fees.” “The fee cap hasn’t gone up in a decade. Universities are losing money on home students.” “Despite how big the fees seem, university staff are being hit hard.”  Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/bunkercast Written and presented by Ros Taylor. Lead Producer: Jacob Jarvis. Producers: Jacob Archbold, Jelena Sofronijevic and Alex Rees. Assistant Producer: Kasia Tomasiewicz. Audio production by Jade Bailey. Music: Kenny Dickinson. Group editor: Andrew Harrison. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

My name is Stan. I'm at. Nice to meet you. So you took up photography where? I've always loved

0:05.5

photography but I turn it into earning a living at 60. I enrolled on a day course.

0:11.8

Well college. I loved going to college. It's good you can retry. I'm enrolled on the day course. But college?

0:13.0

I loved going to college.

0:14.0

It's good you can retrain and do something.

0:16.0

Yeah, yeah.

0:17.0

Let's talk about working, learning, saving and making the most of living longer.

0:22.0

Phoenix Group is the UK's largest long-term savings and retirement business.

0:28.0

Search Phoenix Group living longer.

0:30.0

Pets brings so much joy.

0:32.0

From those happy greetings at the door to the warm cuddles on the sofa

0:36.7

so give a little love back with dental life from Purina a range of delicious chues made for dogs and tasty snacks for cats that help clean and support your pets, teeth and gums, essential for their overall well-being and a happy, healthy life. They give you plenty of smiles so

0:55.3

look after theirs with dental life. Pick up dental life in the pet food aisle. Hello and welcome back to the bunker daily I'm Ros Taylor students have arrived at their halls and another fresher's week is underway,

1:16.2

the first since 2019 not to be affected by COVID. But while in America Joe Biden has just cut

1:22.1

tuition repayments for low and middle earners,

1:24.8

there's no sign of any shakeup for the graduates who pay a hefty chunk of their salary

1:29.3

to the student loans company.

1:31.5

Nine thousand pounds might be worth a lot less than it was a decade ago when fees were last hiked,

1:36.8

but that's part of the problem.

1:39.0

Universities say they just can't break even and do research under the current system. Meanwhile some institutions are investing in

1:45.4

beautiful new buildings while others are at risk of going bust. So where do those fees go?

1:52.3

Joining me is Nick Hillman, who is the director of the Higher Education Policy Institute.

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