Stop the pampering of University students

We finally saw somebody who, in an unprecedented move, dared to speak the truth publicly about the pet topic of stipends - Governor Backs Proposed Changes To The Stipend System, (April 9).

Everybody except the students themselves agrees that stipends in their present form are not sustainable at all.

Therefore it is about time that students are taught a lesson they are never taught at University; to give back to the state what it gave them to be able to be where they are now.

The argument that stipends are needed to encourage people to study doesn't hold water. The students' own lifestyles are ample proof, if any were needed: From the clothes they wear to the cars they drive to University, from their not-so-basic mobile phones to weekends getting wasted in entertainment spots and so on. Most work part-time jobs to support this lifestyle too. I'm in no way implying that higher education should be a paid privilege, far from it. Being free of charge is already an incentive in itself. Anything beyond that is plain pampering. So students should not let all hell break loose just because they are told to repay society what it gave them to enable them to advance in their lives.