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The recent budgetary cuts by the Government in universities come with many implications. The rich will be able to afford quality education while the others will have to pay much more for far less.
 
It is not surprising to see universities reacting with positive horror to the massive cut announcement by the government in the next few years. Commentators are apprehensive that the fee increase and budget cuts will stop university education from reaching a large public segment. Pay cuts and redundancy threats plague academics.

However, the actual situation has been worse for quite some time now. Students in fact are forced to take full time jobs during holidays and work for at least twenty hours a week during the term in order to manage their expenses and make ends meet. This is predominantly due to the erosion of benefit entitlements and student grants and the very meagre sum on offer as bursaries schemes and student loans.

Being extremely over worked and exhausted through the term, students are unable to concentrate and focus on their courses and struggle to complete their full time degree programmes. Students opting for higher education are extremely anxious therefore and their sole aim is employability, which is understandable under the circumstances.

There is a parallel effort and pressure from the government to convert into vocational training programs on the universities that does not come under elite institutions further complicating the situation and enhancing the anxiety level.

If not checked on time, this tendency may lead to a dire situation. The ‘higher education’ on offer will be nothing but a bundle of vocational training programs focused on catering to the media, retail and service industries. Only the elite few will have access to actual university education program. This trend has been heroically resisted by many students and academics in the non-elite institutions. They strive to defend and retain substantial, critical and research oriented education system.

Coming down to reality, it is extremely expensive aiming to offer high quality education to every single student in the country. It logically requires students to bring in more funds than what they are already bringing in. Very soon, there is bound to be a colossal increase in the tuition fee across universities.

Many convincing arguments will be laid out and academics will be tempted with reasoning that most part of salaries, research and jobs will be protected and balanced with this windfall. Students on the other hand will be promised an enhanced education quality and university experience. It remains to be seen whether the proposals will in any way address the issue as to how exactly will students be able to make arrangements for additional funds.

It is imperative that efforts are initiated to expand the loan schemes. Students must be offered loans to pay for their fees with easy repayment options over a period of years that must extend even to their working lives. They must be given a chance to enjoy their university life as students.