Why it is time to reassess the principle of 'free' university tuition

In 2014, the late former first minister Alex Salmond declared “rocks would melt with the sun” before he allowed tuition fees to be “imposed” on Scotland’s students.

Ever since, the issue has been something of a shibboleth, with few leaders willing to question the principle of free undergraduate tuition for Scots at Scottish universities.

Education secretary Jenny Gilruth stuck to the script yesterday by vowing the SNP will “stand by” free tuition fees when asked about the funding crisis facing Scotland’s universities.

Ms Gilruth’s comments came after Alison Payne, research director of the think tank Reform Scotland, warned there is a “very real danger” one of Scotland’s universities might “go to the wall” unless there is a shake-up of higher education funding.

Earlier this month, Dundee University announced plans to cut 632 jobs - one in five of its workforce - in order to plug a £35 million deficit, and Edinburgh University has said “nothing is off the table” as it seeks to reduce spending by £140m.

Ms Payne said the current system was “unfair and unsustainable” and that the policy of free tuition for Scottish students should be replaced by a graduate payment.

Under the SNP, we have become used to “free” benefits. Along with free university tuition for undergraduate Scots in Scotland, we have universally free prescriptions, free eye tests, free personal care for the elderly, free bus travel for the old and the young, and free baby boxes for all newborns.

Yet none of these is truly free. They must all be paid for by taxpayers somewhere along the line.

Would it really be so unreasonable to expect graduates to make a small contribution towards a university education that has served them well?

To govern is to choose, and in these straitened times the Scottish Government must reassess its largesse regarding universal benefits, including the funding model for higher education.

Otherwise, there is a real danger the strains on the finances of great institutions such as Dundee and Edinburgh will become too much to bear.