Labour, in their amendment, are trying to turn this into an argument about access to university courses. That's a total red herring. This is not about inclusivity, diversity or access. This is about what happens to those who undertake degree courses. It's about making sure that we're actually treating these undergraduates and graduates fairly, and not misleading them by giving them false hopes.

Last year, student loan debt rose to more than £100 billion for the first time, and the Student Loans Company says that the majority of graduates will never pay off their whole student loan debt before it's wiped off 30 years after their graduation. That's a very big figure, £100 billion. A senior economist at NatWest said student debt was rising at a faster pace than any other form of debt, and eclipsed credit card of £68 billion. The senior economist at NatWest said,

'These latest figures show student debt is becoming a greater priority with every passing year. Student debt is the fastest-growing type of borrowing and is rapidly becoming economically significant.'

He predicts that, over the longer term, student loan debt is likely to double to £200 billion in six years.

We often compare ourselves with countries that we see as being less generous than ourselves. We see that people often compare our NHS to the cost of healthcare in the USA and we assume those countries have a less inclusive higher education system than us, yet the average student debt in the US is £27,000, compared with the UK student average debt of more than £32,000. So, even if the argument is about accessibility, it fails from the outset when we have a higher education system that's less accessible then America's because of the higher debt those students are going to be incurring. Clearly, saddling graduates with a debt that a majority will never be able to pay off is going to have a detrimental effect on their purchasing power and decisions they will make about pensions, investments and buying a house.

The current system, where practically everyone is encouraged onto a debt-laden university path, even for occupations with lower incomes than traditionally those associated with graduates, is a ticking time bomb for the economy, let alone the individual who will find their personal budget adversely impacted for life. The Tory amendment talks about tackling the brain drain from Wales, and I'm not doubting that there is a problem with the brain drain, but the primary cause of that brain drain is the lack of appropriate jobs in Wales. So, it's a little bit off the point, a little bit of a red herring, if I may say so. Whilst I can agree in principle with Diamond's recommendation, incentivising graduates to stay in Wales is largely pointless if they can't find a suitable job in Wales, so Plaid's amendment is a bit of a red herring too.

Alistair Jarvis, chief executive of Universities UK, has claimed that, and I quote,

'Somebody who goes to university will earn on average about £10,000 a year more than somebody who hasn't got a degree.' 

End of quote. But less than a year ago, the BBC reported figures from the Office of National Statistics revealing that where it comes a graduate aged between 21 and 30, the earnings gap is a little less, at £6,000. And a 2014 survey showed that one in four graduates were only earning £20,000 a decade after graduating, when the average salary for all workers, graduates and non-degree holders, was £26,500. It's clearly unacceptable that a quarter of graduates also earned only £11,500 in the first year after completing their degree and only £16,500 after three years. So, these claims that are being made for degree courses, and I've asked questions about this in this place before—you know, where is the analysis of how useful these degree courses are going to be? How much money is each degree course actually going to garner the graduate graduating from that course? Unless sixth formers are given accurate information about what kind of investment they're going to have to make and the return they're going to get from it in terms of salary, then they're operating on pure guesswork, and they're being thrown to the dogs.

The idea that an increase in graduate numbers is proof that we're more inclusive and have increased social mobility is sheer nonsense. We need a drastic overhaul of university finance so that we can keep Wales's brightest in Wales and so that we don't saddle thousands upon thousands of our youngsters with debts that will affect their entire life. The UKIP proposals we've put forward will achieve the results our students deserve and I urge Members to back them. Thank you.