Overcharge the goose and the golden egg will be laid elsewhere...

From the Scotsman:

"We could end up in a situation where it makes no sense for English students to keep coming to Scotland in the same numbers they do now."

...a prospect which is delighting at least one of the cybernat xenophobes:

Good, allowing Scots to be educated in our universities in greater numbers.

Currently some Scottish Universities have less than 50% Scottish students.

The argument the SNP are putting is slightly more nuanced than that of such monoculturalist supporters. It's not that they don't want outsiders in Scottish universities; in fact the fines fees they would be expected to pay for being English/N.Irish/Welsh are essential for the financial well-being of the Scottish system:

Under Scottish Government plans unveiled this week, students from south of the Border will pay £25,500 for a Scottish degree, only £1,500 less than the maximum allowable fee in England's top universities and £3,000 more than the expected average.

On Monday, education secretary Michael Russell said the looming funding gap between England and Scotland - caused by the introduction of tuition fees - would be tempered by as much as £62 million of income coming in from non-Scottish students paying fees.

But are more or less students from the rest of the UK now likely to come to Scotland?

One university source added: "We could end up in a situation where it makes no sense for English students to keep coming to Scotland in the same numbers they do now.

And not just the English will be discriminated against, over 4,000 N.Irish students are also studying in Scotland and will be affected. Russell is taking a mighty gamble relying on this kind of logic:

He said: "Looking at the distribution of other UK students in Scotland, it is clear that the majority of students are attending institutions who are likely to be competing with those in England who will be charging a higher level of fees - above the sector average. Therefore, it would be necessary to pitch a Scottish fee at a level which reflects that."

It would be interesting to see his data proving that one.
fines