Christopher Denhart: Student Contribution Feed

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Almost every college in the country charge a student contribution fee, also known as the student registration fee. This figure varies between different colleges but currently a maximum amount of three thousand euro can be charged to each student. As seen above, back in 1996 all college tuition fees were abolished; far from the situation that we currently find ourselves in. Students. grants are available to some students but not all of them. Also there are tax relief systems in play which give families opportunities to get back some of the fees that they had to pay.(citizeninformation.ie) The government pay a grant in order to finance higher education so that the entire burden of payment is not on the family of students trying to obtain a degree. …show more content…

This solution, in theory would make third level education free. However, in his article “There is no such thing as a free education”(2014), Christopher Denhart feels that although in some ways the higher rate of taxation would be beneficial, he is more inclined to believe that it wouldn’t be a decent solution. He explains that overall, people would be unhappy handing over even more of their wages in order to pay for a system that would be of no benefit to them at all. Denhart examines the situation in Germany, where in 2014 all tuition fees were abolished and as a result taxes were increased. Denhart feels that a rise in taxes would “likely drive the most educated, highest earning, most able Germans away from Germany and into societies where they can take home a greater percentage of their pay.” Denhart also notes that the Germans may feel a strong sense of patriotism and so will be very reluctant to emigrate. A senator in Hamburg claimed that university fees would be socially unjust and they would discourage those with a lower standard of living to obtain a higher level of education. …show more content…

Firstly, this system would have to be based on the income a student receives for years after they leave college. Students who come directly out of third level education cannot be expected to have the funds necessary to pay off a huge debt. For example, if the student is coming out of a four year course that costs over 10000 euros a year, they would have to pay off at least 40000 euros as well as the rate of interest that goes along with the loan (The Irish Times,2015). This brings me to a factor where the rate of interest on these loans would have to be very low in order to incentivize students to take advantage of this loan system. It may even take years for the student to be in a position where they are earning a decent salary in order to pay off their debt. This is where we would have to bring in an income­based loan system such as the one that Australia currently have in place. The Australian loan system states that if students are not earning a certain amount yearly, they do not have to start paying off their debt yet. (slate.com,2015) This system has been in place in Australia since 1989 and they haven’t shown any significant signs that they want to change it.

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