Miliband: Replace fees with a graduate contribution
Shadow climate change secretary and Labour leadership contender Ed Miliband comments on the graduate tax:
“The Russell Group of universities is wrong to push for the removal of the cap of tuition fees.
“As I have argued, we need to get rid of fees altogether and replace them with a graduate contribution, where people who have been through our universities can make their payments once they start earning a decent salary.
“I welcome the suggestions in the press that Vince Cable is moving towards this idea.
“A graduate contribution will remove some of the barriers to access that still hold back the less well-off students, who are being put-off from going to university.
“Equally, it is wrong for the principal of University College London to suggest that funding for research should be safeguarded at the expense of funding university places.
“Our priority should be to open up our universities to a wider pool of young people, not to close the door on them.”
