´óÏó´«Ã½

Depending on their mood, lecturers smile or grimace when they overhear some students discussing gatherings in restaurants and skiing trips to Chamonix.

St Andrews taxi drivers derive some of their income from students in residences a 15 minute walk from the city centre.

A minority of students are undoubtedly more affluent than their lecturers. Families used to paying around £10,000 a year for day school fees or around £26,000 for boarding school, suddenly find they are paying nothing at all.

So, privately, many university staff wonder if the policy in Scotland of universal free higher education is really as laudable as it sounds. The other big topic to ponder is whether it can really be sustained in an era of public spending cuts and escalating fees south of the border.

At the same time, students who genuinely are on the breadline have access to grants and loans considerably smaller than they are in England. Many believe this is one reason the drop-out rate is higher in Scotland. And it may go some way to explain why fewer students here come from disadvantaged backgrounds.

While few have an appetite for any kind of charges coming to Scotland, there may be some who would prefer to have more maintenance money while they are struggling students, even if it meant paying charges when they have graduated and see salary cheques coming in.

So far, so logical. But when did logic ever have anything to do with our feelings? For many the concept of a price tag on higher education will always be deeply offensive. At a seminar this week on higher education spending run by the in Scotland, there was undisguised revulsion in the voice of a member of the audience describing the prospect of thousands of young people starting their careers mired in thousands of pounds in debt.

Guest speaker , an economist from Oxford University, gave an interesting reply. He urged us to think not just of the predicament of those who go to university - but also of those who don't.

If Scottish universities don't find a new source of funding he said, there will undoubtedly be rationing of student numbers. The professor then highlighted the fate of his own father, who he said had a higher IQ than he did but didn't get the chance to go to university - as numbers were rationed then.

Read more as Scotland eyes Browne review on student fees.