First class degrees in the U.K up 50% in just 10 years!

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First Class degree passes are on a rapid rise in the United Kingdom, 25%, one quarter of graduates from British Universities, now leave with a First. So fast has the rise been that just five years ago it was 18% getting Firsts and in the 1990s it was just 8%. Yesterday the government finally called it deliberate grade inflation and said they would act. The rise coincided with the arrival of tuition fees. British universities traditionally were the preserve of the middle-classes and the kids didn't pay fees, meaning the workers subsidized the huge cost and the parents picked up the rest, happy with that as it gave their kids an unfair advantage against poorer families to dominate the top universities, which they still do. Up until the 1990s the kids would get free cash to help live at the universities but now they are paying up to 9 grand per year for courses and that cost could rise again.They want something in return though. Now the universities are competing against each other for the wealthier students who can pay and they have to offer incentives to attract and keep them. the First Class degree seems to be the prize. Universities are ranked Gold, Silver and Bronze on the amount of Firsts they give, and so funding they receive. The only credible reason for the rise is kids maybe working harder at uni now they have to pay 30 grand for degrees. Others would say they can buy essays online and that could be it. The money pouring into universities has seen big pay rises for the people who run them, some Deans on $600,000 a year. But the pay system also saw huge debt in the system by students who cant, or wont, pay off their tuition debts.44% of students are unlikely to pay off their debts in full over a lifetime. Education is now a business and the kids are the product.