To be honest, I try not to involve myself in the politics of other countries because what I have to suffer through here in the US makes my blood boil most of the time, but I have to now.
I’ve watched over the last week or so as our national news has covered the student rioting in London over the increase in student fees at the university level. I watched in astonishment as these kids took their frustrations out on Prince Charles and his wife as they happened to drive through an area of the city in which there was rioting.
These young adults really need to rethink their protestations. Perhaps if they saw things from an outside perspective, they’d realise just how good they have things. The other morning I heard on the news that if a British student gets a loan from the government to pay for uni, they do not have to repay one pence of that loan back until and unless they make £33,000 (approx. $52,000) per year in income. That’s a far cry from the situation here in the US. After a student here graduates from uni, s/he is allowed to defer payments for only 6 months while they search for a job. And it doesn’t matter what kind of job you have.
In these rough economic times, if a newly graduated student has to settle for a low paying job when what she studied for would’ve potentially brought in more than the minimum in the UK, it doesn’t matter. If you graduated this year and can only manage to find a job paying minimum wage, our government expects payback immediately.
So I have little sympathy for these students protesting a fee increase when they really have the easy life as a British citizen.
Oo's in the Loo? 
Yeah, and the kids that were rioting in France because they raised the retirement age to 62. Whatever.
I’ve always known the French are a lazy lot. LOL
Actually, if you earn under £16K/annum you do not pay anything back. Over that threshold, the money is taken from the gross wage, not the net wage. The loans have a 22 year life after graduation. At this point they are discounted, or at retirement age, whichever is sooner. The amount paid back is proportional to the gross wage, so a person on around £18K/ annum would only pay back £10-£15/month BEFORE tax, national insurance etc.