It has been widely publicised that many universities are finding it increasingly hard to find funding and maintain their standard of schooling. For example, students only pay a quarter of the amount it costs to cover their course, but considering one of this government’s main aims was to increase the number of students in Higher Education, trebling the fees seems a bit extraordinary to me. Think about it, if I did a four year course paying £3000 a year, plus a £3000 a year student loan for living expenses: that would leave me in £24,000 debt. So what if I don’t have to start paying it back until I’m earning £15,000 a year, I will be so limited on what I can do with regards to borrowing more money and using credit cards, I won’t be able to raise a mortgage, for example. If the idea was to make sure teenagers from less fortunate backgrounds were able to go to university, I think the Higher Education Bill will pretty much reverse any previous work done to help the less privileged. The Oxbridge universities especially, which are the most likely to be charging the full amount with top-up fees, will suddenly become less appealing to students who do not want to be paying off a huge loan for the rest of their lives. It saddens me to think that students who are extremely intelligent but do not have much money will not be given the same opportunity to those who are able to afford it. One of the solutions the Government have come up with is that debts will be written off after twenty five years to help those on lower incomes, in theory this may sound good but it may be an incentive to some people never to try and find a career with a higher wage. Another suggestion was that the minimum wage earned before beginning to repay debts would be increased to £18,000 or £20,000: surely the state will end up worse off than before as it will take longer for many graduates to reach this salary!
As student loans are means tested, some people whose families are more fortunate do not qualify for the full amount of £4000. I agree that it is unfair for students who have extremely wealthy backgrounds to be able to claim benefits, when their parents may be sending them money as well; however I also think that all students should be entitled to receive the full student loan because many students from families that are comfortable but not rich will not be helped by their parents. This means that they may not be as secure as their supposedly less well off peers and this is not acceptable. The government have discussed increasing the amount students are able to borrow, but being lent more money is not a solution to debt problems. Even if the loan was augmented by £500, the final debt would be increased by up to £2000 and this may not appeal to many students who are planning ahead and do not want to be paying for their education for the rest of their lives.
If I did decide to go to university after the top-up fees are introduced, what is my life going to be like if I’m constantly worrying about money and living on the bare minimum? A large part of the university experience is to go out, socialise, meet new people, but if I’m surviving on a tight budget, this will become less and less possible as my student loan decreases. Again, this is lessening the appeal of higher education as it reduces the amount of fun students will be able to have. One possible answer to this is for students to get a job whilst they are studying. However, finding a balance between work and study is difficult and being forced to create a substantial income may affect school work in the long term. In the past, I have heard stories of people working forty hour weeks in addition to their full time degree course – if fees are increased these tales may become shockingly common. Being low on income can also have serious side effects on the health of students, a diet of “cup-a-soup” and tinned curry is not what anyone would consider balanced or healthy.
It’s evident that the Government needs to rethink their plans for Higher Education. They made it clear in their proposals that they wanted more young people to go to university, especially those of a less fortunate background, and increasing the fees by £2000 a year is not going to attract people who could be earning money as soon as they leave school. Politicians are supposedly intelligent people – they must be able to think of another way to solve this?
So, Ladies and Gentlemen, I urge you to consider the points made and oppose any proposals to significantly raise fees of universities.
Thank you.
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