Should higher education be free? The demand for higher education has been increasing rapidly however the supply of higher education is increasing at a lower rate. With supply unable to match the demand it has resulted in higher education value and worth

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Should higher education be free by hana ali

Student id w1225228 Economics

Should higher education be free?

The government believe that education is important for the future development of the UK, and are continually investing in the market. With more students than ever before wanting a higher education, competition is growing not just in the Uk, international students want their higher education in the UK .the biggest issue we have seen become more discussed about is the fees that students have to pay and if there should be a fee

Higher education currently has a fee of £2335 a year for UK undergraduate on any full time course. Previously university were limited to the rich white people and then over the years opened up and allowed more lower classes and other ethnic minority.  The government currently run a system which allows students to take a loan out to cover the fees in which they pay back once they have left the higher education are earning an income suitable to start paying the loan back of. The government also currently offer a grant to students who are coming from less financially able families to help with the higher education.

When students decided to look at the choice of higher education they look at marginal benefit and marginal costs and make a rational choice. When looking at the marginal benefit of attending university you find ideas such as increasing their market value of the student, better job perspectives and a more in depth knowledge of you specialised area. However when looking at the marginal costs we have the university fees, accommodation and extra three years of studying. The main marginal costs that affect the prospective students is the tuition fee and how to pay for it.

The demand for higher education has been increasing rapidly however the supply of higher education is increasing at a lower rate. With supply unable to match the demand it has resulted in higher education value and worth increasing. In a perfect situation the education market would be in equilibrium were supply meet demands. With disturbances consistently happening in the market and society it is impossible for supply to meet demand. One example of disturbances are the new bonus available to all college students who meet the target grade which gives incentives to the students to get the grade which then gives them the opportunity to go to university.  This then causes an increase in demand. Another example would be with the country going into recession and less jobs being available more students are going to university instead causing an increase in demand, and this disturbance cannot be controlled by the student or the university.

One solution for demand to meet supply would be to increase supply. This could be done by increasing the amount of education institution available, causing supply of higher education to increase and meet demand. An increase in the amount of education institution will also increase the competition between universities and lead to better education being offered to students. The increase will also allow for more people to be educated and increasing the amount of qualified people we have in the country. One better solution would be to decrease demand and this can be done by increasing tuition fees and making it harder to get the degree. However then you limit those who do a degree no to those who are capable to do it but to those financially able to do it.

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we can see that the demand for higher education is higher than the supply by increasing the amount of educational institution you will increase the supply and will move the position of supply and it will meet demand and be in the equilibrium or become more balanced to each other. However the amount of educational institution that need to be created for the change in the supply will be difficult to calculate. However by increasing supply you may meet demand, however this may be useless as supply and the demand for education is continuously changing due to other ...

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