Excuse any slightly odd behaviour. (On the site’s part, not mine: you should, of course, be accustomed to my slightly odd behaviour by now.)

On a slightly related note with regard to the recent discussions about universities, I found this article (and, surprisingly, its comments thread) fascinating reading: The Shadow Scholar.

The request came in by e-mail around 2 in the afternoon. It was from a previous customer, and she had urgent business. I quote her message here verbatim (if I had to put up with it, so should you): “You did me business ethics propsal for me I need propsal got approved pls can you will write me paper?”

I’ve gotten pretty good at interpreting this kind of correspondence. The client had attached a document from her professor with details about the paper. She needed the first section in a week. Seventy-five pages.

I told her no problem.

It truly was no problem. In the past year, I’ve written roughly 5,000 pages of scholarly literature, most on very tight deadlines. But you won’t find my name on a single paper.

There are some who have accused the entire account, even the author’s pseudonym, of being fabricated; I, however, am more accepting. Given that in the US, degrees truly are a commodity, and that Mr Dante describes a large subset of his customers as being spoiled rich kids with more money than sense, the story is perfectly plausible.

Of course, in the UK, even with the incoming increase in fees, our degree courses are still heavily subsidised; we still see a university education as a right for those who are bright enough. On the other hand, I’m pretty certain this problem exists in the UK. Indeed, it would be foolish to assume it didn’t.

The idea of supervising all coursework and dissertations might, at first, seem attractive: on the other hand, it runs entirely contrary to how real work is carried out. Having written a few papers myself, I can vouch for the fact that a good essay does not come from hour upon hour sat at a desk, with a teacher watching over your shoulder whilst you regurgitate the contents of the textbook.

The critical point to take here is that you can take a horse to the water, but you can’t make it drink. As demonstrated by Mr Dante’s article, there are an alarming number of people who, either because they’re being failed (in the case of EAL students) or because they feel that a qualification in itself is somehow their right (viz. frat boys with more money than sense), will turn to ghost-writers to drink the water for them.

I’ve been meaning to do something about tuition fees for some time, but never got round to it. Now, however, seem as good a time as any to write something brief about the matter.

1. There is a valid point that the raising of the cap on tuition fees may (and almost certainly will) appear to price poorer students out of University. Even if this is, ultimately, an illusion, the mere presence of scary numbers like £9000 could well scare off potential students.
2. I say it’s an illusion because it is – and I say this as a student who stands to be affected by a raise in the cap. Of course, students will end up paying more money over time – however, the pay cap is still sufficiently high (going up to £21k from the current £15k, a detail that seems to have been conveniently ignored), the interest rates are still sufficiently low and the ultimate pay-off from a degree means that I find it hard to envisage hordes of post-graduates dossing on the street come 2030.
3. Those who accuse the Lib Dems of betraying their campaign promises are being a bit unfair. True, the Lib Dems did say they would oppose tuition fee rises in any form – they probably did, behind closed doors. Let’s think, however, how bad it would have been with a Tory minority government – no cap at all? University fees completely deregulated, hence American-style fees of $20,000 per semester? To be fair, the Lib Dems are doing a pretty good job of softening the initial blow of the cuts. The fact tuition fees have to rise is a pain, yes, but given the Tories’ (dare I say it, relatively sensible) principle of reducing the deficit and the need to create more jobs, the rise in tuition fees is remarkably good value. We’ll still be getting a very good deal thanks to the student loan system and the continuing subsidy (despite its decrease in size and change in implementation.)

Even if the Tories are going around reducing the deficit in the wrong way, the sheer presence of a voice of reason (Vince Cable, perhaps?) from the Lib Dems means that a true conservative university system of uncapped tuition fees and spiralling student debt is one that is still far off.

Of course, you may feel differently. There is a case (albeit not one I agree with) for the new system being unfair. This is, again, perfectly valid grounds for a protest; there is no doubt that the majority of today’s protests in Westminster were peaceful, if hopelessly utopian.

I would posit, though, that the most sensible thing said with regards to the protests today has come from Chris Applegate on Twitter:

qwghlm Chris Applegate

Kids trashing Millbank do look a bit middle-class, it has to be said http://bit.ly/b5poMm

qwghlm Chris Applegate

And no, today was not a riot. Toxteth, Brixton, Trafalgar Square all proper riots, this is just posh kids playing anarchist

qwghlm Chris Applegate

Of course that then does demand the question – why aren’t the working classes rioting as well?

This is a sensible point. Let’s consider the situation: I am a presently-jobless student from a working-class family, living in a three-bedroomed terraced house in Camberley. I could end up with one year at the old fees before the remainder of my degree under the new system.

I am, however, not particularly worried. I can be pretty confident that there will be jobs for me at the other end; even if there aren’t, I can wait, as I still won’t need to start paying back my loan until I’m earning more than £15,000. Providing I budget wisely, I can’t imagine being in a situation where the loan becomes unmanageable – and I also know that the debt will eventually be written off.

Something the NUS fails to realise in this debate is that whilst there is a perfectly valid point with regards to the apparent pricing out of students, the actual pricing out of students is unlikely due to the loans system. We will still be getting a very good deal; in my opinion, we should be glad it’s not a lot worse.