It's not easy being big

News arrived promptly on my Twitter feed that the Welsh Assembly was going to cover the rise in tuition fees for all Welsh residents studying anywhere in the UK. A bold statement, and one that puts to shame the Westminster and pushes Wales to a more autocratic running like Scotland. http://bbc.in/dXk8UU

I bet English students will be FUMING. But I thought I'd jump in to defend Westminster and the Government for which I voted (sort of).

How does the phrase go? Comparing Oranges and Apples? I'd like to give you a few examples why it's inaccurate to compare Free University education for Scottish, Welsh, and English students. It boils down to people, and in effect money. For clarification, I'll be using the short-scale numbers, i.e. 1 trillion = 1000 billion, and 1 billion = 1000 million (naturally 1 million = 1,000,000 in both long and short scale). Please bear in mind that these numbers are astronomically huge, and it might be difficult to comprehend the true extent of their meaning. These numbers were obtained in one form or another from the Office for National Statistics. The numbers bellow are for illustration purposes and I can supply further details on my calculations upon request. The numbers are (as I understand it) for the year 2010 based on 2008 projections.

Here are some of my assumptions:

1. "University Age" is people between the ages of 18 and 23.
2. The cost of one year of a University Degree is £9,000
3. A maintanance loan or grant is £3,500 per year
4. Population of Scotland* = UK pop - England & Wales pop
5. Population of Wales* = England & Wales pop - England pop
6. Repayment of the loan takes 30 years
7. Average UK Salary = £25,428 (from 2009 ASHE by the ONS)

The UK's university age population is 5,073,900 people.

That means, that over a 3 year degree, it would cost the UK government £137 TRILLION to send 100% of the population to University. Add the maintenance loan and it rises to over £190 trillion. Then consider that Bachelors are being constantly devalued and a Masters becomes more and more necessary, so a 4 year degree is really a minimum, the value sky-rockets to just short of £254 trillion*!!! (*inc. maintenance).

But not 100% of 18 to 23 year-old's will go to University, so here are the numbers for just 50% of the population going to Uni:

3 years costs over £68 trillion. Plus the maintenance rises to just over £95 trillion; and add another year of studying and maintenance, £127 trillion.

What about only 25% going?

3 years costs £34 trillion, plus maintenance £48 trillion, and 4 years £63 trillion.

So how does this compare across England, Wales and Scotland? 100%

England Wales Scotland

3 years: £114T £7T £15T

3 + mnt: £160T £9T £21T

4 + mnt: £212T £13T £29T

50% of the University Age population

England Wales Scotland

3 years: £57T £3T £8T

3 + mnt: £80T £5T £11T

4 + mnt: £106T £6T £14T

25% of the University Age population

England Wales Scotland

3 years: £29T £2T £4T

3 + mnt: £40T £2T £5T

4 + mnt: £53T £3T £7T

It costs Scotland just 13% of what it costs England, and it costs Wales just 6%!

So it's not fair to complain that the government doesn't want to support its students. Of course it does. It's just not feasible! Where the hell is the UK government supposed to find that much money to put towards University? Especially at this time when money is scarce and we have a massive deficit to control!

Coming out of Uni with anywhere between £20,000 and £50,000 of debt sounds scary. And it looks even scarier when you put it next to the average wage in the UK of £25,428. Repayments over 30 years would constitute anywhere between 1/30th and 1/15th of your salary, assuming it was constant at £25,428 during those 30 years. But consider that the majority of graduate jobs (that require a qualification) I've heard of usually start at around this number (Engineering tends to start around £30,000, and Finance around £35,000), with plenty of scope for pay rises. This is a very small amount of money, and it will allow the government to give that money to the next generation who wants to go to Uni.

So stop your complaining and get back to studying! The government isn't ruining anyone's future!! At least not this way.