UK's Tuition Fee Protest (Images)

[cristo]

From several dozen friends of mine who live in Germany.

Then your "several dozen" friends must be on a high-end salary (see here for info on tax rates in Germany). Unless, of course, you are talking about other taxes on top of income tax, in which case you should make that clear, and include other such taxes in the UK also.

 

[mheslep]

Edit: the current system is of course up to you others in the UK to do as you see fit. I object here only to calling the public U. funding something other than what it really is, on average: a transfer from the poorer classes to the better off ones.

Once I've contributed that money back, however that may be I've paid back what the government used. One of the lines of thought here is that people who go to uni earn more and so contribute more.

Or not. You could become a doc/nurse/scientist/administrator and go to work with the other 1.5 million folks at NHS or other government funded agency and continue to draw a government salary for the rest of your life. Not that they don't earn their wages, but there is no getting around the fact that some Welsh miner helped to pay not only for that U education, but now also perhaps an NHS salary or a teaching position back at ye old U again.

I know what you're thinking right know, bear with it and continue reading.

Firstly, I'm not sure where you got your tax figures from but taxes aren't that cut and dried.

My figures were not taxes but spending percentages, which includes from the other side of the balance sheet insurance, taxes, and money the government borrows. The spending categories by size are as I stated, social welfare 28%, NHS 18%, education 13%, etc. All three of which are expanding at unsustainable rates, http://www.ukpublicspending.co.uk/u..._a_a_a_a_a_a_a_a_a_a_a_a_a_a_a_a_a_a_a_a_a_b", I do not know about presently.

If I don't use benefits and the NHS, my contributions to that could be said to be repaying my student loan. I know, it sounds complicated.

You almost certainly will use NHS eventually, as you know even at this age. Likewise a Welsh miner can use NHS; he isn't locked out because of insufficient A levels as he is in the case of attending university, though he pays for both U education and NHS.

But it follows the line of thought of "why should someone else pay for uni", only this time it's "why should I pay for someone's healthcare & benefits".

You're not, you're likely paying for your own healthcare when you're older or some accident down the line, when the cost will, on average, be far more than £700; actually it is likely the years of paying-in while young still won't cover it later, and instead the government is already borrowing abroad to make up the difference.