Is the Student Finance System Working?
The Briefing Room
BBC
4.8 • 731 Ratings
🗓️ 9 August 2018
⏱️ 28 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
This month exam results are published, and millions of young people will be hoping that they will do well enough to get into their chosen university. But students don't only need good grades to succeed - they also need money.
Ever since the expansion of higher education in the late 20th century, the way we pay for universities and their students has been through many changes. But now, the system is broken, critics say: tuition fees and student loans are too expensive, and the whole system is too opaque. This week, the head of one elite university group called for the return of maintenance grants. So what's wrong with student finance, and how can it be made to work better? David Aaronovitch and his guests discuss.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to the briefing room with me, David Daronovich. |
| 0:03.1 | Together we enter a virtual room and get briefed on the big questions of the moment |
| 0:07.8 | by people who know some of the answers. |
| 0:10.8 | If it helps you, or if it doesn't, or if there's anything we should be doing that we're not, |
| 0:15.2 | please let us know what you think by writing a review or rating us on iTunes or your podcast provider. |
| 0:20.8 | And many thanks to Kitley-K-LMatt and Laser ASDF who have done just that. |
| 0:26.4 | This week we're asking fees, debt and university funding. |
| 0:31.6 | Is the student finance system working? |
| 0:34.0 | And if you enjoy this podcast, you might want to download other editions of the briefing room. |
| 0:46.3 | Next week, exam results are published, and for millions of young people in England and Wales, |
| 0:51.3 | the next step along life's primrose path will be university. |
| 0:56.2 | In homes across the country, families are preparing to pop the prosaco and then to try and |
| 1:01.2 | work out just who pays for young Poppy and Alfie to go to college. |
| 1:08.4 | This is not just a matter of confusion, it's also a matter of fierce contention. |
| 1:14.1 | Labour now wants to abolish tuition fees altogether and reinstitute a system of student grants, |
| 1:19.9 | and other critics point at high interest rates, the system's complexity, and the problem of the state ever getting its money back. |
| 1:27.2 | So, is the system of student finance |
| 1:30.0 | broken? And if so, what are the alternatives? Join me in the briefing room to find out. |
| 1:41.4 | In the 1950s, only a very few young people went into higher education. |
| 1:46.8 | Today, almost half do. |
| 1:49.0 | So how did this big change come about and where did the funding come from, |
| 1:53.2 | both for students and the institutions they attend? |
... |
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