Students who have graduated from universities in Switzerland could benefit from free tuition, under a proposal submitted by the youth section of FDP. The Liberals. As part of the scheme, those earning above a certain income would be able to get their tuition fees refunded.

Young FDP calls for reimbursement of tuition fees for high-earners

Under the plans, revealed on December 31 as part of the Young Liberals’ platform, graduates of higher education in Switzerland would be able to reimburse their tuition fees, once they achieve a specific salary. In the end, workers who earn less than the threshold would be the only people required to pay their fees.

In the position paper, the party explained that an increasing number of highly educated graduates are working part-time, and therefore contribute less in taxes. "In the past, academics usually paid back their study costs indirectly by working a high workload in a well-paid job after graduating and paying sufficiently high taxes. Today, this social contract is increasingly eroding," Young Liberals President Jonas Lüthy told the Tages-Anzeiger.

Therefore, Lüthy argued that those who don't use their qualifications to maintain a high income should be the ones to pay fees. In terms of where the income threshold would be, it would be based on how much money someone would have to earn to pay for their education costs through income tax.

Though new for Switzerland, nations like Australia and the United Kingdom already have a form of deferred tuition fees. However, the proposal in the alpine nation would be the reverse, as students in those countries only start to repay their student loans once they exceed a certain income, rather than falling under it.

Opponents call tuition refund proposal "absurd"

Perhaps unsurprisingly, less than a day after the proposal was revealed to the public, university academics and some elements of parliament have criticised the idea. Writing in the Tages-Anzeiger, sociology professors at the University of Bern, Barbara Zimmermann and Leo Röhlke, said that the plan would disproportionately affect women, who are more likely to take care of children and therefore work full part-time. 

They added that the plan is too focused on the idea that a university education is a means to generating income. For instance, doctors are trained to improve and maintain the healthcare system, not so they can eventually pay more in taxes.

Speaking to the newspaper, Social Democratic National Councillor Matthias Aebischer called the idea “absurd”. "The FDP and the Young Liberals make politics for people with a lot of money - it should be the other way around: Those who later have a good job and earn a lot thanks to their studies could repay the costs of their education."

He concluded that if the FDP wanted more people to work full-time, they should focus on improving and subsidising childcare so that mothers can work more.

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