, Columnist
A Better Way to Fix the U.K.'s Student Debt Problem
Both Conservatives and Labour are focusing on tuition levels. That approach won't work.
The future could be brighter.
Photography: Dan Kitwood/Getty ImagesTuition fees have become one of the hot-button issues of British politics again and Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond is expected to confirm the Tory pledge to freeze tuition fees when he issues his budget today. The Labour Party wants to abolish them entirely, endearing itself to younger voters. But so far neither Conservative nor Labour approaches get at the real problem.
University fees were introduced across the U.K. in 1998 and, while still far below many U.S. universities, have been going up ever since to their current rate of around 9,000 pounds ($11,907). They are largely financed by publicly subsidized loans, taken by 79 percent of students, though three quarters will fail to fully pay it back.