It is good that universities oppose limitations to education and learning (Universities oppose program for college student cap and loans in England, 9 Might). But when it arrives to grownup education and learning and lifelong discovering, the dilemma is not just restrictions on bank loan accessibility – it’s debt itself.
The disastrous collapse in part-time education and learning in Britain prompted by the coalition government’s tripling of university fees was thanks to its denial that obtaining into financial debt in afterwards lifestyle is various from producing a lifetime decision of no matter whether to go to college aged 18. For adult learners, it may well be a alternative between using a bank loan to review or acquiring a loved ones getaway that 12 months.
Analysis released in Wonkhe this week confirms help for lifelong finding out, but not for forcing adult learners further into credit card debt. As the Universities Association for Lifelong Learning claimed in its reaction to the government’s session, the entitlement should be to lifelong studying, not to acquiring into personal debt. Funding wants to be designed accessible for older older people to re-enter schooling – other than in the sort of loans.
Prof Jonathan Michie
Chair, Universities Association for Lifelong Finding out