Letter: Future for fees

Joyce McMillan (Perspective, 1 July) thinks it's anti-egalitarian to make university students pay tuition fees. She could not be more wrong.

She and I belong to a generation of students that was subsidised by tax-payers who hadn't had any higher education, would never have any, and throughout their working lives would have much lower post-tax incomes than the privileged minority who benefited from what was essentially a disguised regressive tax.

Does Ms MacMillan want to go back to those days? Why does she, and others like her, not recognise the merits of the student loan scheme, which ties repayments to income, unlike any other type of debt that I know of?

I agree with much of what Ms McMillan says about public sector "reforms", but this is very different. She should support the principle of payment from those who benefit financially.

Andrew Anderson

Granton Road

Edinburgh