Many American Students would wish they had it this good!

Tony Blair is hanging by a thread these days and not only over Iraq, but even more so lately over tuition "top-up" fees. The proposals that are out there now for funding university education certainly seem defensible to me, but then I'm not all that well-versed on the English system. It doesn't sound bad though that you can get loans to go to school for 0% interest and don't have to start paying them off, once you are out of school, until you are making at least $27,000. And if you never make that much (I would sure hope you would if you spent 4 years at the University!), then after 25 years they are written off entirely.

I think this is the problem with many societies that fund all health care and educational expenses - at some point people get fed up with all the taxes to pay for this and say enough is enough! And as the article points out, should the dustman really pay for the doctor's degree? Why not let the student themselves pay for some of their education? English students should try coming to the US and face the $30k/year that some colleges charge. Not saying our system works of course, as $30K/year is obscene, but it does point out that societies where everything is a "given" eventually bump up against the economic consequences of such largess.

For an explanation of top-up fees and the problem England faces, go here

P.S. And if you think it's only England that has problems, then you should check out the German situation .