A new study is calling for the introduction of a new "all-age graduate tax"
Students who attended university for free should start paying towards their cost of their degree, according to a research paper.
The new study calls for the introduction of a new "all-age graduate tax" paid by everyone who has a degree, regardless of when they studied or how much it cost them.
The proposal would help to cut what today&apos;s students pay to go to university and increase funds raised for the public purse, according to the authors.
The study comes at a time when student tuition fees, which now stand at up to £9,250 a year, are firmly back in the spotlight, with concerns about issues such as value for money and spiralling pay for university bosses.
Researchers at Centre for Research on Learning and Life Chances (LLAKES) at the UCL Institute of Education set out proposals for a graduate tax, which they suggest are a mid-point between the current fees and loans system and a Labour Party general election pledge to scrap tuition fees.
Under the current system, students can get government-backed loans to cover their tuition and living costs, when they they begin paying back once they are earning more than £21,000.
It makes calculations based on the tax being paid by English and EU graduates, working in England aged 20 to 64, who had their degree subsidised by the government, as well as tax allowances for the 2016/17 financial year.
Under the first scheme, graduates earning at least £25,000 would pay 2.5 per cent of their taxable income less personal allowance, while under the second, graduates would pay two per cent of their taxable income in the basic tax rate band, and three per cent on anything over this.
Should an &apos;all-graduate tax&apos; be introduced?
Prof Green said that the first reaction of older graduates being asked to contribute may be surprise.