Making education free diminishes the quality
Without fees, the service universities can offer would be radically reduced.
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Context
Most years, just over 400,000 young people go to university[1]. If we want to keep the quality of education high, we need to charge for higher education.
The Argument
With so many young people going to university it is impossible to ask the government to fund an ever-increasing number of people going to university.
To fund other vital services, such as the NHS, some services need to be charged for; in this case, education. If you want to keep quality the same but quantity radically increased then there must be a tipping point, hence why tuition fees help to keep the standard of education high.
Counter arguments
There is some question about the cost of universities themselves, with university lecturers claiming that they certainly have not benefited from the fee change[2]. If costs are not increasing by as much as is claimed, then it remains to be seen where this money is going and what it is spent on.
Proponents
Premises
P1. More students are going to university.
P2. The government has the same amount of funding for universities each year and cannot pay for everyone to go.
P3. Consequently, if the government cannot pay then the students who go must pay.
Rejecting the premises
Rejecting P2. There are questions over who the funding goes to and what it pays for.