Spontaneous Monotony

Well it seems that in my essay-writing exploits last night I failed to notice that the graduate endowment is gone (after the SNP drafted its death warrant in June). Ah well, gives me  an excuse to get the utterly fabulous February 29th in my blog. What’s more puzzling is that Neo Labour and the Tories (no surprises there) voted against, on the basis that it wouldn’t reduce student  poverty. I know that bending the truth (not to mention the expenses rules :p) is in vogue in Neo Labour, but I fail to see how they can claim that reducing the financial burden on every single student by over £2200 (about a fifth of the average total debt per student of £11,000) will not reduce student poverty. We should all be happy - once again we live in a country committed to the principle of free education, and (even better) we no longer live in a country run by Neo Labour con artists.

The SNP has fulfilled its manifesto commitment to scrap the ‘graduate endowment’. The backdoor tuition fee was introduced by the Lib-Lab Executive during the first Parliament, as a compromise between the Labour policy of tuition fees and the Lib Dem policy of free education (in fact, the graduate endowment is literally half the then tuition fee for a four-year degree).

The Education Minister Fiona Hyslop today announced that the hated experiment is to end - for both current and future students. Draft legislation will be introduced in the autumn, and if passed by Parliament (as it probably will be, with Green and Lib Dem support) will come into force next April. As of then, Scotland will once again be a country that believes in free education. Other parties (even Neo Labour) have made promises to students, and failed to honour them:

We will not introduce ‘top-up’ tuition fees, and have legislated to prevent them

Still others (such as ‘Scottish’ Neo Labour in this year’s election) have argued that it is somehow in the interests of students to have to pay £2000+ for accessing a basic right such as education. The SNP have made a genuine commitment to students, and more importantly have stuck to their word (unlike certain other parties). Long may it continue!