Joan Sprat (1989:13) argues that the government
should provide free university education because
such education benefits the whole community. She
asserts that the skills that students learn at
university are important for the future social and
economic development of our nation. Therefore, so
this argument goes, the government should invest
money in education as it does with other vital
resources. According to this argument, when
students are forced to pay for their education
themselves fewer of them will enroll in higher
education courses. However, as John Dawkins
(1988:1) explains the government is able to invest
the money it gets back into the higher education
system so that overall quality is improved.
Furthermore, there is money to fund more places for
students so that in the future we will not have the
shortage of places we had in the past. Moreover, it
is unreasonable to expect taxpayers to pay for
students' education when those students get
well-paid professional jobs after they
graduate. |