Why doesn't price work for education?

The number of 18 years old young men who apply for higher education is at a record level, and the growth rate published does not indicate this number would potentially decline in the near future. The demand for higher education in the UK is increasing, despite the £9250 annual tuition fee.

English students used to enjoy free higher education in the past; however, because of the increasing government expenditure caused by the increasing number of English undergraduate students, the government reintroduced the tuition fees and increased the tuition fees several times. The government also pushes apprenticeships and other alternatives to higher education. So far, based on the observation, the government efforts to reduce the demand for higher education have failed. Usually, when we increases one good's price and introduce its substitutes, the demand for this good should drop; however, in the higher education case, this does not work.

Higher education has its uniqueness that makes it impossible to be substituted. Education is a method to break class barriers; moreover, receiving higher educaation has more alternative career paths afterwards including achieving higher in the academic field. Moreover, even if anyone wants to switch to other fields, they can still do so after receiving higher education; however, the other way is relatively more difficult and requires greater efforts. In addition, the current system allows students to borrow student loans to pay their tuition fees, so the increase in the price may not have a very significant impact, especially they are only going to pay back their student loans once their incomes reach a certain level.

Overall, the increase in tuition fees does not create a significant cost increase and higher education is better than other alternatives.