Vat on Independent school fees?

metalblue said:
Most aren’t loaded. Sent 2 of mine to private school (because our local state school was in the bottom 10% of the country on basics like English). My elder 2 went to this school and it was becoming a fucking shambles. Fortunately my younger 2 have an age difference that meant as one left the other started else I’d never have been able to afford. Yes, I felt bad for those who had no choice but to send their kids to said state school - I certainly had no wish to spend the money but you want to do right by your kids.

Adding VAT won’t affect the wealthy - they’ll just pre pay before the new rules come in. It’ll effect those who go without holidays and the such and pay each month on direct debit.

Personally I think school fees should be payable ahead of tax - the government can use salary sacrifice schemes (and they can then add VAT) this will actually have those paying from wealth paying more and those paying from income, paying less - this in turn makes private education more accessible to more families which in turn frees up more places at state schools

State schools should also stop treating every kid like an academic and teach them practical courses like plumbing, welding, electrics, and mechanics - teach them English and maths in the context of preparing quotes and accounting. Give them the skills to setup a business. Give them financial support to do so. Keep them in education until they are 18. If they meet targets they are taught to drive. If they pass everything you give them a grant to buy a van and some tools if they want to setup their own business. Then the moment they walk out of education they are contributing back to society. The kids who fuck around in school are the ones who aren’t engaged - they’ve no interest in learning French or geography. Give them a reason to be engaged, give them hope. This will break the cycle of families with no ambition and no hope becoming generations on the dole or ne’er do goods.
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Why shouldn't private schools teach practical courses too?
 
Private schools raked in over a billion in "profits" last year though they call them savings to keep charitable status and invest them in overseas adventures.
 
pirate said:
I agree with everything you post except the bit about universities getting richer.
they really are not
they are getting poorer if they are outside of the Russell group.
The Tories over the last 14 years have changed the funding model reducing the amount of money the universities get directly from central government grants and relying on increase tuition fees to fill the gap. The tuition fees even with all the increases does not fill the gap and so the universities are getting poorer.

The Russell group universities are the big fish in the pond and have increased external funding to make up the shortfall. They are able to do this based on historical reputation and longevity. They are also now more willing to make compromises that they otherwise would not make and in the long run may be harmful to both students and institution.
For example Cambridge have renamed the chemistry department the Yusuf Hamied Chemistry Department. Now Yusuf Hamied seems an OK bloke but it is an unprecedented move and opens the door to more unscrupulous people buying their way into the british educational establishment.
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Universities are businesses, they aren't public sector organisations like schools. They're run for profit and most of them are running big profits on huge revenues. If a university is failing financially then they are not failing because of a lack of government funding, they're failing as a business.

Two researchers invented Graphene at Manchester University. Did Manchester University give them all the tools they needed for that research so that Graphene could be given to the world for free? No chance, Graphene was invented and now the university is exploring as many ways as possible to sell commercial applications for profit.

Tuition fees have been frozen at £9k for over 10 years and before that they were £3k. No university has ever relied upon that for sole income because they would be bankrupt if they did. Even if they double tuition fees (whether students are actually charged that or not) then they're just supplementing profits above all else.
 
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