Students Across The Country To Demonstrate Against Fees
Students Across The Country To Demonstrate Against Fees
Thousands of students across England will be demonstrating tomorrow against the current top-up fees system.
In advance of the 2009 review into higher education funding, the National Union of Students (NUS) is co-ordinating a national ‘Day of Action’ to call on the Government to abolish the top-up fees system, which leaves the average student with £20,000 of debt, and bases financial support on where students are studying, not how much they need it.
NUS President Wes Streeting said:
“Students are making a stand today because the current system is completely unfair. All students have to pay £3,145 a year in top-up fees, but they face a postcode lottery when it comes to financial support. Richer universities in the Russell Group can offer poorer students an average annual bursary of £1,791, but those from the Million+ group can only offer £680.
“We want a national bursary scheme, so that poorer students get financial support based on how much they need it, not on where they study. Students and parents also deserve a full, frank and public debate about the current fees system ahead of a general election before families are saddled with even more debt by those who want to see the cap on fees lifted.”
The protests follow last week’s announcement by the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills that it would cut partial grants to students from middle-income families, in order to compensate for an underestimation of the number of poorer students claiming full grants.
Wes Streeting added:
“The measures laid out by the Government last week will inevitably hit new students from middle income families at a time when they are struggling to cope with the impact of the credit crunch.
“The Government needs to stop tinkering with grants and fees every year, and recognise that the entire higher education funding system is unsustainable.”
Tags: NUS
This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 5th, 2008 at 10:23 am and is filed under Education. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
