 |
| Courtesy of https://www.careerplanner.com/Career-Articles/Generations.cfm |
There was much hype about the power of the student vote - would term have ended? where would the young people vote - at home or at University? In the end it made little difference to the national picture as the privileged Baby Boomers (and wanabee Boomers from Gen. X) outnumbered the later generations in the appropriate places.
But, student debt and the promise to end it, remove loans for fees and return to the "Good old days" of Higher Education that Boomers enjoyed was offered to tempt voters, however infeasible the plan.
Central to this discussion is, of course, the creeping sense that everything is able to be reduced to a monetary amount. That "the graduate premium" is a realistic aim or even an expectation once the degree has been paid for.
Let me offer a Baby Boomer view:
Yes, we got our Higher Education for no direct cost to ourselves.
Yes, we even got maintenance grants that did not need to be repaid
Yes, we were refused these boons if we did not achieve very good A level grades
Yes, we still held onto the understanding that our "graduate premium" jobs would offer more tax back to the government than we had cost it.
Yes, we were aware that opportunities to offer intangible benefits to society, through using our graduate skills in voluntary posts throughout our lives.
So, I have repaid my student fees many times over - in cash and in kind and will continue to contribute as my generous pension is taxed as I receive it.
