Thousands of UK students protest tuition fees hike

As the march passed a high-rise building that houses Conservative headquarters, some protesters smashed windows as others lit a bonfire of placards outside the building.

And to think these people like to call tea party participants violent and unhinged...

Let's get this straight. First the UK raised tuitions because a degree got you a higher salary, so you should pay for that and not society. Now they will raise tuitions because a society full of university educated people can not afford the cost of people going to university.

In other words, you had to pay more because the economy was good, but now you have to pay even more because the economy is bad. Reality is that the plantation owners need more and more blood from the debt-slaves to keep the plantations running. One day a new Galileo will come and say, "actually the sun does not revolve around the earth." Until then you are screwed. But Galileo will probably end up shot by a lone gunman in a book repository building anyways.

Enjoy living in the new Dark Ages kids.

these people like to call tea party participants violent and unhinged...

Excuse me, you have any evidence that UK university students have made any kind of group statement about US politics? Who are 'these people'?

The students are darn right to protest. Their parents' generation got not only free university tuition, but a grant for living expenses from the government, paid for out of their parents' generation's taxes. Without that, I know I for one would not have been able to break out of my working-class background☆. Of course far more young people aspire to a university education these days, and the country's purse strings are much tighter than they used to be. But young people should not be expected to start their adult life with a huge debt millstone around their necks. Cameron's 'let them eat cake' policies will not go down well in the UK.

Wrecking property and hurting people isn't the right way to protest, though.

☆Then again, as one who left the country a year after graduating and hasn't paid any UK taxes since apart from VAT on visits, I'm hardly in a position to tell them what to do with their taxes.

what are they crying about, all those in my circle had to pay $25,000-$30,000.

cleo at 09:28 AM JST - 11th November

these people like to call tea party participants violent and unhinged...

Excuse me, you have any evidence that UK university students have made any kind of group statement about US politics? Who are 'these people'?

I have no real proof, but my lib dem friend believes the tea partiers are "white christian racists." Not saying hes the voice of the the left, but I believe that he shares the same feelings as those students.

The students are darn right to protest.

Yes they have the right to a 'peaceful' protest, not breaking windows and destroying TVs. You shouldn't take these people lightly either, they're union thugs. They'd rather keep their precious benefits, even if it means collapsing the UK economy.

Firetribe - In the UK the lib dems are part of the government, the ones 'these people' are complaining about. Please leave your us/them politics in the US, they don't apply in the UK.

You shouldn't take these people lightly either

There it is, 'these people' again. It must make life so much easier for you if you can just throw people into a great big amorphous sack and judge them all by the label you stick on it.

Triple the existing tuition fees?? That is bloody nuts! At the same time isn't it up to each university to price their tuition?

14 grand sounds good to me, but you can keep it lower by letting more students into classes.

The bricks and mortar model for education at the university level is fast disappearing; they should be protesting a gov't out of touch with the rest of the wired world.

Wow! triple the fees and they still dont know if theyll find a half decent job when they finish. Corruption.

Universities shouldn`t be trying to become rich. Corruption.

Unfortunately, people have become fed up with political corruption and lies and some are fighting back. More corruption.

The majority are lazy and cowardly and have let the elitists gain too much power. Wake up UK you are sinking quickly because of corruption not because you dont/didnt work hard. Business and political corruption.

There are over a million cameras in the streets. Smash them all. Democracy in 2010=tyranny. Corruption.

The UK needs to do what it used to do in the past (and what the Germans still do successfully) and that is to encourage decent, lengthy apprenticeships for craftsmen. Apprenticeships that will produce very professional carpenters, engineers, house builders etc. Instead of this false requirement for students to go to university when a lot of them will still not find work anyway and where a lot of students are not cut out for a university degree.

Universities shouldn`t be trying to become rich

The universities aren't trying to become rich. They're trying to keep their heads above water when government grants have been taken away.

They're right to protest - this is nothing more than robbery of the lower to middle classes. For the last twenty years these kids' parents have been paying their taxes to contribute to their future education and the government now changes the rules, so they now have to pay tuition fees on top of the education taxes they've already paid.

We can thank our lucky stars in Scotland we have a devolved parliament with at least the power to control tuition fees (still completely tax-payer funded with no extra tuition fees) to give some shelter from the Con-Dem disaster.

Does Nick Clegg manage to sleep at night? He looks like a man carrying a massive guilt. Hope it was worth it Nick.

northlondon, agreed that the apprenticeship system should be revived, although now these fees are in place and the poor are effectively being excluded from higher education it'll likely come about naturally anyway.

From cleo:

☆Then again, as one who left the country a year after graduating and hasn't paid any UK taxes since apart from VAT on visits, I'm hardly in a position to tell them what to do with their taxes.

The universities aren't trying to become rich. They're trying to keep their heads above water when government grants have been taken away.

So it's people like you who have been irresponsible by NOT paying back the education that your government subsidized for you? Why don't you start helping those unis to keep their heads above water then?

There are other solutions. Costs can be kept at $0 fees for students by limiting the number of students who can attend university through difficult entrance exams. Then only the brightest will attend university, but they will do it comfortably. The rest can pay their way in some other country, like the United States, where most students work at least part-time to cover their costs.

Oh, and let's hope the police get a little more robust in their response to these so-called "anarchist" thugs.

Nobody has a right to "free" education after high school. The Brit police are way too soft on these left wing thugs and need to grow a pair.

Bebert61 and trulymadlyfukai, neither of you have a clue about the history of the British education system. The UK always prided itself on being able to provide a university education for very little cost (it was never free). Over the years this social education system has been hijacked by governments wanting to use this budget allocation for other expenditure.

This is how they want the system to work. They want more students to graduate from university as the defacto standard for professional careers. If you want to be a British lawyer, doctor, banker etc you need a good degree. What do you need to do to obtain a degree to start your career ? That's right, you need to attend university. Therefore, why should any student bright enough to obtain university entrance have to then pay a lot of money for their start in life ? If university is required before you can embark on a professional career (in other words, before you can start earning a salary) then it should be regarded the same as school (i.e without tuition fees).

I understand that in the US every graduate has always had to pay a lot of money to obtain their degree. But then we always regarded the US as a selfish expensive example of a capitalist society gone very wrong. The UK can now look forward to that sad path.

Oh, and let's hope the police get a little more robust in their response to these so-called "anarchist" thugs.

The Brit police are way too soft on these left wing thugs and need to grow a pair.

I have always been very proud of our history of freedom of speech and the right to demonstrate and kick people out of power. A poor example of this is Japan, where the Japanese do not protest against poor policy and laws.

Costs can be kept at $0 fees for students by limiting the number of students who can attend university through difficult entrance exams. Then only the brightest will attend university, but they will do it comfortably.

I think that's the way it used to be. Now numbers have risen and the sums don't add up any more.

Nobody has a right to "free" education after high school.

If their parents have been paying high taxes for the past twenty years on the understanding that junior will get an education, yes they do.

mikehuntez - My parents paid for my education, through their taxes. if I were paying taxes in the UK and when my kids were ready to go to university had this bombshell dropped on me, I would be pretty narked. As it is, no taxes, no vote... maybe they cancel each other out.

Nobody has a right to "free" education after high school.

So if you are from a working class family and want to better yourself in life by studying hard enough, you become a doctor or a lawyer by graduating from high school do you ?

p.s By the way, there are no "high" schools in the UK as we have a different education system and this article is about the UK.

cleo,

Universities have tons of cash and they want more. It`s also not the fault of the public for the government corruption and wasted tax dollars. The elitists should get their spending in order.

Short sighted. Only the rich will have the education and good jobs. Shame on the Torys for this. It is slavery by keeping the poor poor by not giving opportunity. Cleo has the right perspective. Why cannot the conservative politicians be just, for the less well off children? I myself am a "social conservative". We must organize but keep a moral perspective. I would rather pissoff the bankers of the debt than to bring my country into slavery. C'est toute. Out with the debt holders. No more debt. We all need to be forgiven of debt and start again. Yeh the cycle of debt will come again and we then have this forgiveness of debt. About 50 years I think. But think of the power of debt forgiveness allthe way around. Beautiful. Money for schools. New business. Food.

It`s also not the fault of the public for the government corruption and wasted tax dollars. The elitists should get their spending in order.

pointofview, I didn't think it possible, but in the context of external poltics the US second-hand AM radio rent-an-opinions sound even dumber than they do already. Also this is the UK - there are no 'tax dollars'.

Bah no different from the french unions as they plot anarchy and then get students to carry it out.

Are you sure?

mikehuntez - My parents paid for my education, through their taxes. if I were paying taxes in the UK and when my kids were ready to go to university had this bombshell dropped on me, I would be pretty narked. As it is, no taxes, no vote... maybe they cancel each other out.

I don't think that the taxes paid by your parents cover the tuition during your university but rather the tax payers of the day are paying them which may or may not include your parents. But by getting a student loan it is also meant to have you pay some of it back. In my understanding many freeloaders from places like Australia and England do just that. Get a free ride on the taxpayers of the day then leave and use the excuse that they are not in the country to pay it back. That's just embezzlement in my eyes. These countries have set themselves up to become welfare states and this is just another welfare recipient crying because they have to now pay more for the previous generations of freeloaders.

14 thousand US dollars/year is a lot for an education in a place that is - let's face it - basically a third world country, but one where English is still spoken.

Wow, so the UK is basically a 3rd world country but instead of Spanish they still kind of speak something like English there? LOL! But really, this UK government should be ashamed of themselves, they should tax more beer, alcohol and nasty English food like Black Pudding.

In my understanding many freeloaders from places like Australia and England do just that. Get a free ride on the taxpayers of the day then leave and use the excuse that they are not in the country to pay it back. That's just embezzlement in my eyes. These countries have set themselves up to become welfare states and this is just another welfare recipient crying because they have to now pay more for the previous generations of freeloaders.

How can studying hard for 3 years for a university degree in your own home country, tuition fees or none, be described as a free ride ? You sound like you come from one of those very sad capitalist societies that charges it's future generations thousands of "dollars" just to earn their university degrees. And you are just jealous that you were never given the chance to live in a decent social system with free university tuition fees (unfortunately, something that the UK is now losing).

Nice to see people in, of all places, the land of Adam Smith and David Ricardo taking to the streets and making their feelings clear. Maybe the UK government will now rethink its policies. So refreshing in contrast to, for example, the typical brainwashed reaction of Americans who were long ago conditioned to shrug their shoulders and say "The market is supreme and we must obey its dictates" even when private sector health insurance companies jack up premiums by 40% to put more money in the hands of shareholders. All this talk about the supremacy of "natural" laissez-faire economics is nonsense. Laissez-faire was planned.

Thank you MASSWIPE. Common sense and intelligent debate amongst a sea of complacent bitterness.

How can studying hard for 3 years for a university degree in your own home country, tuition fees or none, be described as a free ride ?

You study at a university to make more money, it’s an investment. However if someone in a country with free tuition were to go to college, earn a degree, and leave the country to work in a country with lower taxes, like the U.S for instance, the nation they came from would have shelled out thousands of dollars to educate them and then not be able to recollect through taxation, i.e. a free ride.

The market is supreme and we must obey its dictates" even when private sector health insurance companies jack up premiums by 40% to put more money in the hands of shareholders. All this talk about the supremacy of "natural" laissez-faire economics is nonsense. Laissez-faire was planned.

There’s no talk about its supremacy because laissez-faire capitalism has never existed...ever...anywhere. It is expensive to keep centers of higher learning up to date and competitive with the rest of the world and without the proper funding public education begins to fall behind private universities rather quickly. Increasing tuition is a logical step unless you can get the instructor to work for free, a computer company to donate equipment and servers, and publishers to slash their book prices (that one is just a flat out fantasy) the Universities need to find their funds somewhere.

With a competitive private system you have a variety of options so if your insurance company hikes up your premium you can open an account with someone else. If the state is the only provider they can hike taxes however much they want and you’re SOL.

Well northlondon I won't bother replying because The Question did that for me. Thank you TQ. So I guess it is you who is the idiot. Probably one that lives in Japan not paying anything back to London. A true welfare recipient freeloader of the Welfare State. These kids now have to protest because of your freeloading.

bored students. please raise the voting age.