Targeting stamp duty and tuition fees could be less effective than technical education and the right industrial policy.
We need to look at the write-off threshold more than the repayment threshold or bottom line fees to make a difference that young graduates can relate to.
The gathering Tory tribe feel the urgent need to defeat Corbynism, but are not enamoured with the policy offer so far.
The second in a three-part series of contributions from the ‘New Blue Book’.
Our take is that what matters to students at least as much as their finances in the future is their finances now. Miinisters should mull a universal maintenance loan.
The Prime Minister has a long story of progressive toryism to tell. Moral authority must not be conceded to Labour.
It is wrong for those at the top to take advantage of the generosity of government, students, and other, far less well-remunerated, academic staff.
I believe there are three means of improving this situation: maintenance grants, the criteria for maintenance loans, and scholarships and bursaries.
Without America’s clear split between elite institutions and public service providers, vice-chancellors are caught between very different sets of expectations.
More widespread availability of two-year degree courses would be a good start.
As the Conservatives anxiously mull their prospects with younger voters, shouldn’t they think a bit more about the two-thirds who don’t go to University?
As possibly the only Brexiteer in the Parliamentary Party’s One Nation group, I am also only too aware that this message must be accompanied by a successful EU negotiation.
The next manifesto might propose breaking the link between student maintenance costs and parental income by introducing a universal loan.
That the Opposition are willing to risk alienating key supporters even whilst preparing for an early election shows how dangerous they think this policy is.
The youth vote is not one homogenous lump: more than half of school leavers won’t go to university, and won’t benefit from more generous student loan terms.