Just how well thought through is Government policy?

Just how well is policy thought out. If the current Tuition fee debacle is anything to go by then the answer has to be very badly if at all.

Just take one paragraph from the guardian today which tellingly says:

The number of universities declaring that they wish to charge students the highest amount from next year has caught ministers by surprise, with the majority of institutions planning to charge more than £7,500 a year.

Now, I clearly remember government representatives on television stating that there would be a wide range in terms of fees charged by institutions and that students would be able to then make a choice from this range. Let me just say that the commodification of education is not something I condone at all, in fact it is something I vigourously oppose, but also worryingly it seems that if ministers have got it this wrong on what is comparitively a rather simple market to analyse then what does this say about the basis of policy in other areas such as around social care a much more complex entity.

And the reason why universities are charging high fees... It's because they know demand will still be there even if they charge students extortionate rates. Why? Because university still represents chasing the dream to most young people. It is still seen as virtually the only the route to a career, home-ownership and the middle class. Universities know, even if ministers don't that with few alternatives, people will be prepared to pay for this dream.

Grim statistics

It's been impossible to get away from the news content generated from the fees demonstration. It left me wondering today why as my younger self would have headed to central London, or at least marched round campus, my older self is happy just to watch it all on TV. I tell myself that it's because I haven't the time, work, family and university meaning free time is now a rare luxury.

Besides, the forces I am currently doing battle with are statistics; more specifically assignment number two and all its logistic regression analysis.

Statistics has never been my strong point and having just finished a book about the Tour de France I can't help but draw comparisons between myself and the riders as they approach the Pyranees.

It feels as if my degree is the race. I've had some good results on the flat stages of Northern France, but as I look at Mt Logistical Regression towering above me I know I'll be spending the next few stages in the autobus; the group of riders at the back straining just to stay inside the race cut off time whilst dreaming of the finish on the Champs-Elysees

Fees

There's something I'm deeply ashamed of.... for as long as I can remember I've voted Lib Dem. Still, I can be confident that I will never again repeat this mistake.

Sentiments which I'm sure would be shared among the small throng of protesters gathering on campus as I walked home from my early morning lecture today.

As I passed by I recalled a conversation I had with some of my colleagues at the call-centre yesterday. We'd all felt short changed, even depressed, by the fact that our first degrees had led several years on to a low-wage call centre job. We're not isolated cases either. Research has suggested as much as one-third of the call-centre workforce are graduates

The answer we all concluded is either returning to university to do a more vocational degree giving entry to a profession, or like me to go down the postgraduate route, but higher fees closes this door as older students and post-graduates also have debt, family committments and opportunity costs from giving up what employment they do have.

Students are being asked to pay ever more for their education, yet at the same time the rewards for that education are becoming more uncertain and dare I say unevenly distributed...