A few comments on the “students (in England/Wales) should get a refund of fees” that is doing the rounds this morning 1/n

The obvious: university costs and someone has to pay. E/W have a system which puts a lot of this on the student. 2/n

It does so in a way that at first glance looks a lot worse than many countries (although not nearly as bad as the USA) 3/n

But one of the oddities is the way that this is done. It means that the current estimate is that 80% or so will see that debt eventually written off. 4/n

In the meantime they will be paying 9% of their income over £26,575. Until 30 years have passed then any remaining amount is written off. 5/n

For those who listen to @bbc5live you may hear a regular question that goes to @MartinSLewis about student loans 6/n

“I’ve got a little big of money, should I pay off some of the loan”. And usually the answer is “No” 7/n

(This is always better than “I’ve already accidentally paid some money off the loan, can I get it back”) 8/n

In most cases paying off the loan won’t change the amount the graduate has to repay. https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/students/student-loans-tuition-fees-changes/ 9/n

Any student fee rebate is likely to fall into this case. It will take money from universities. It won’t return money to students. 10/n

It will only help students who come from wealth or who become wealthy. 11/n

So if you think that students deserve support then try to think of something else! Support around employment would be the one I’d look at... 12/n

This doesn’t stop you thinking about alternative funding systems either - but be realistic about them, and realise that this probably won’t help these students 13/13