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►£7000 a year? Not in our lifetime
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26th November 2009 11:35 am
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£7000 a year? – NOT IN OUR LIFETIME
With the announcement that the current cap on tuition fees will be reviewed, the biggest fight for students in recent years has begun with earnest.
A so-called “Independent panel” consisting of BP’s former Chief Executive, two university vice-chancellors, a former civil servant, a banker, an economist and a student will look at the balance of contributions to universities by taxpayers, students, graduates and employers. Concerns have also been raised that students currently heavily subsided student loans could be replaced with loans set at commercial interest rates, further threatening students.
Alongside the financial system, the review team will assess the impact of current fees on widening access to Higher Education. Business secretary Lord Mandelson contested that the launch of top up fees had not hit student recruitment. In the Daily Telegraph Lord Mandelson said “since they (top up fees) were introduced student numbers have continued to rise, along with the numbers coming from lower-income backgrounds”.
Student groups would not deny that student recruitment has not been affected; rather it is the issue of debt that is of the gravest concern. With this year’s freshers expected to leave University with anything up to £23,500 worth of debt, real questions must be asked of the Higher Education Funding System. We want our Universities to be well funded, well resourced and well respected but not at the expense of graduates laden with debt for the rest of their lives.
Throughout the summer the National Union of Students (NUS) has been championing its alternative to the current funding system. Their key argument is that students should only contribute back into Higher Education once they have COMPLETED their study. Graduates would then contribute back into an independent fund for Education – essentially a people’s trust fund. Over time this fund would accrue a considerable amount of money and thus be used to deliver additional resources to Universities. This would be channelled using the current systems employed by the Higher Education Funding Councils (HEFC).
NUS’ system suggests that after 20 years of operations the trust fund would be investing around £6.4billion per year rising up to £7.9bn after 30 years. Compare this with our current system – if the cap was set at £5,000 the total payout would be around £6billion.
But it goes further – NUS upholds that full time and part-time students should not pay any up-front fees. This would mean a VAST widening in participation in Higher Education and most importantly increase the attraction of life-long learning to potential students.
With the announcement of the fees review NUS has not weakened its resolve. Rather it immediately called upon students throughout the country to take up the fight and challenge their MP’s to COME CLEAN and state whether they will support students and vote against any increase in tuition fees.
On the 11th of November 300 students descended on Westminster and called upon MP’s to sign a pledge promising to vote against a hike in university top up fees, and to press the Government to find a fairer alternative. MPs from all political parties joined students to sign the pledge and show their support. As NUS President Wes Streeting stated; “The vast majority of the general public is against higher fees, and voters deserve to know where their MP stands on this key issue. Today students are making it clear to politicians that if they refuse to speak out against raising the cap on fees, we will hit them where it hurts – at the ballot box.
How can you get involved?
Swansea Metropolitan Students Union will be challenging our local MP Alan Williams and prospective Parliamentary candidates for the Swansea West seat, to sign up to protect students. You can contact Alan Williams on this issue by simply visiting www.theyworkforyou.com .
As a student you can write to both your home MP and Alan Williams here in Swansea, and challenge them to pledge their support for a fair funding system. If you are interested in getting involved, pop into the Students Union or go online to www.metsu.org for advice on how to write to your MP about the issue.
As a student you can write to both your home MP and Alan Williams here in Swansea, and challenge them to pledge their support for a fair funding system. If you are interested in getting involved, pop into the Students Union or go online to www.metsu.org for advice on how to write to your MP about the issue.
As the UK trudges through the longest recession on record surely burdening students with more debt is not the answer. Poor management, greed and a lack of long term vision has led the UK to its economic failings over the past year. It is crucial that Higher Education has a well funded system with real long term vision, not a short sighted, University favouring hack of a plan leaving students burdened with a lifetime of debt.
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