Making education free up to undergraduate degrees across the UK for all citizens i.e. a person would only need to pay for a Master’s level degree or above.
Provision of free education in the UK to undergraduate levels will shift the Social Equilibrium increasing the Social Marginal Benefit since more skilled labor that is productive will enter the market increasing its output.
Furthermore, Marginal cost will increase since the government of UK will be using more funds to support the education system than before. Also, the cost of graduate degree is reduced the marginal benefit arises since the students no longer have a debt to service after they finish their graduate degree. If they are offered with a free university education, they can concentrate more on developing themselves rather than paying students jobs after securing a job (Murphy, Scott, and Wyness, 2017). Free university education significantly contributes to a high-tech economy since students gain innovative skills. (Murphy, Scott, and Wyness, 2017). Although the government may incur a high cost providing free education, I believe the loss can be compensated in future when the students have graduated and used the skills and knowledge gained in economic development (Jungblut, Vukasovic, and Steinhardt, 2020). Improved skills and technology lead to an improved productivity which is the major contributor to economic growth and development.
Therefore, holding other factors constant, the social Marginal benefit derived from offering free education to undergraduate level outweighs the Social marginal cost of facilitating the policy and thus a great economic policy too