Tertiary education is a vital component of our civilization, providing essential skills for the survival of modern society. Tertiary education spawns the doctors, lawyers, teachers and academics of tomorrow, in a perpetual cycle of training and intellectual development. From the point of view of our children, tertiary education is an essential beacon of hope, an aspiration for the future, for prospects in later life. For all the benefits of education to degree level there are many drawbacks, namely finance.

Full-time students have very little time to earn money on their own. With bills to pay like everyone else, the full time student also has to hold down the equivalent to a part time job to scrape enough money to survive. Add to that the pressures of having to pay for your tuition and fork our several hundred dollars each semester on books, and you're talking about extreme poverty. Surely this can not be right, that the talent we need as a nation is forced through terrible conditions, well below the poverty line, until they qualify with a ton of debt against their name.

Funding of students is expected to include some element of parental support, which is frankly out of touch in modern times. Education should not be the reserve of the well off, but should be a right open to those who earn their place, regardless of background. Sadly this is far from the truth in the society in which we live today. A good example to consider is the system in Scotland, as distinct from the rest of the UK. Education in Scotland is free, i.e. the student doesn't have to pay his tuition fees. How does the government afford this? Easy.

The government makes money from the student loans it offers, and also charges a hefty 'graduate endowment' upon graduation to cover a large proportion of the costs. Even although this system is far from perfect, it is the envy of most of Europe, and has worked well since its introduction earlier in the decade.

It is simply a case of finding a balance between government subsidy of tuition fees and unjustified expenditure. Our students are worth it, and we have very promising talent coming from all walks of life. It would be a terrible shame if the doctors, lawyers and teachers of tomorrow could never materialize because their parents simply weren't rich enough.