Higher education is a business, and those providing educational services should compete in the marketplace to offer the best quality education for the lowest possible price. The only areas in which the government should be involved is in the training of doctors, dentists and teachers. Those should be reserved occupations wherein tuition is paid by the government, on the condition that the course is completed and that graduates spend a certain amount of time working in the public sector.
Bursaries should be within the gift of the bursar, be they a private or public body. The likelihood is that those applying for a bursary would be beholden to their benefactor and would be expected to repay the debt in kind.
I begrudge paying tax in order to fund a fellow adult's quest for self-advancement. I've already paid for their fourteen years of schooling, and in all likelihood I'll have to make a large contribution towards my children's expenses in higher education eventually. It's my money, I earned it, I'd like to have the use of as much of it as possible, please.
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