Some time ago, the British government decided that students should not only be able to attend college free of charge, but they should be paid to do so by taxpayers. That was the fabled “student grant.” Just before I went to University, the Thatcher government decided the grant was a luxury Britain could no long afford and cut the grant for most middle class families. I got one year of a very reduced grant and then nothing thereafter. I left university with a bank overdraft of around GBP 1,000. That was around standard at the time. There were no riots when this happened.

The Labour government of 1997 to 2010 realized that the continued taxpayer-only funding of higher education was harming Britain and British students. It therefore rejigged funding arrangements so that students would start to pay for part of their education, up to GBP 3,000 a year. Students grumbled but a high-level review found that this investment had not deterred people from going to college. There were no riots.