Another solution to rising university costs may be less university.
With rising university student numbers, per capita spending on them has dipped.
Bate is encouraged by rising university applications, but worries about sharp falls in part-time and mature students.
In Britain, according to a recent parliamentary report, rising university fees mean that student debt is likely to treble to £70 billion by 2015.
Successive governments have said that rising university numbers are justified by a graduate premium – higher lifetime earnings that more than compensate for tuition fees and living expenses.
For example, Harriet Harman, Labour's deputy leader, talks of young people not being listened to, roping in rising university fees and the withdrawal of subsidies for pupils (though Ed Miliband, her party's leader, takes a more nuanced line).
Analysts say there is limited opportunity for youths to vent their unhappiness with dwindling social mobility, high unemployment, sharply rising university tuition and an urban planning process dominated by real estate developers.
That contrasts with the problems we've had, with austerity measures and students rioting in Westminster,¨ he said, referring to mass protests in London in late 2010 over rising university fees.
It may be that the education market will start naturally to correct itself; rising university fees may inspire a return to those subjects that increase a student's chances of actual employment.
Blade Nzimande, the South African education minister, has condemned violent student protests, saying the government has "gone a long way" to financially supporting poor students and that students with resources should pay fees to help cover rising university costs.
