At a time when an entire generation faces higher tuition fees coupled with lower job prospects and top universities are admitting fewer state school students, education already has a price. Add private tuition into the equation and we have a system that further enables wealthier people to punch above their weight.
Despite the recession, the private tuition industry is booming. This culture of 'silver spoon feeding' is widening the gap between rich and poor in terms of access to education opportunities. If your parents have money, you can go a lot, lot further.
Almost a quarter of students across England receive private tuition at some point during their time at school. In London, the figure is much higher at around 38% of 11-16-year-olds. In some areas of the country - especially those subject to the grammar school system - waiting lists for tutors can be months, even years long. Why? Because tutoring can - and does - make a difference. It's a smart move, if you've got the money.
As well as benefiting from one-to-one teaching, pupils are also drilled in exam technique: since some GCSE and A-Level papers are notoriously repetitive and predictable, this enables candidates to have ready-made answers at their disposal. What's more, there is nothing to stop tutors doing students' coursework for cash. It's fast becoming a world of professional coursework writing, facilitated by avaricious agencies taking a cut of the fee, perpetuated by accountability-free parents and made possible by graduates looking for flexible, well-paid work.
Often tutoring can be the difference between attending the local state or grammar school, lifting a B to an A at A-level, or securing a place at a top university. These pupils are fortunate indeed. On top of their daytime education - often beneficiaries of the independent school system - one-to-one classes, at a cost of up to £45 per hour, are a privilege.
The result is that some low-income families - wanting their kids to compete - fork out the high fees for a few hours of tutoring a week to make up for what the local state school may fail to deliver. Or, as is more often the case, their kids are left at a disadvantage with parents unable to pay, unaware of this industry or resigned to the unfair state of play.
Despite a government drive to widen access to higher education, 21% of English pupils are eligible for free school meals but they make up less than 1% of the intake at the most selective universities, including Oxbridge, according to a study by the charity the Sutton Trust. This is a sorry situation. Tutoring is further distorting exam results in favour of wealthy families.
Some agencies do address this issue - giving tutors the option of doing voluntary lessons. But is it really up to the tutor to demonstrate social awareness? The Sutton Trust is now funding a social enterprise scheme in Manchester, where university students are paid to provide one-to-one tuition in local schools and required to give one hour of free tuition for every six hours of paid work they secure.
If this Government is serious about closing the gap between rich and poor why doesn't it expand this scheme? Or better still, put an obligation on tutoring agencies to guarantee tuition is given to kids who couldn't otherwise afford it, whilst making school and university admissions boards aware of who is receiving tutoring.
Maybe it's a good thing that more people are getting a better education, even if a higher proportion of them are rich? My point isn't that rich children shouldn't be allowed to be the best they can, it is that something needs to be done to lift the people at the bottom end of the economic scale.
Amidst changes to university fees and school exams, this is an overlooked area. Not only is tutoring exacerbating the gap between rich and poor, a burgeoning private tuition industry has negative ramifications for society at large. Talented people who are not succeeding academically may, in reality, be a lot more talented than those who do succeed, and were all things equal...well, you get the picture. Private tuition is giving richer kids yet another advantage - as if they don't have enough already - at society's disadvantage.