No such thing as free study

According to Edward Dutton, one of the many good qualities of higher education in Finland is the fact that it is still free ("Finns, they are a-changin'", 10 December). Sadly, there never has been and never will be free higher education. If it is free at the point of use, this simply means that everybody else is forced to pay for it, including those on low incomes. It is difficult to see why taxing the poor to subsidise rich people's university education is a good quality. Some would find it morally repulsive.

James B. Stanfield, School of Education, Newcastle University.