Fees Review Leak

Posted by Ricky

Yesterday the Sunday Times published the following article, in which it details of some of the outcomes of Lord Browne review which is due to to report in Autumn.

John Pert who is a member of NUS's Executive Council has provided some good insight and analysis on his blog.

What does that mean for Salford Students and what will the Students Union be doing?

The leaked outcome of Lord Browne's review suggests various methods of raising fees, one of those suggested is to double the level of fees and then start adding an extra £1000 a year until we see a 'true market'.
This is an absolute disgrace, students across the country have not seen any benefit of the current system in where students pay fees by taking a loan to pay fees upfront, further more the Times article suggests that 'the subsidised interest rate on student loans would go'. This would be a massive blow for students and what is the fee level that achieves a 'true market' £20000? £30000??
This is issue is not just limited to home students, you can guarantee that Universities across the country will use this as an opportunity to raise fees for international students as well.

We must remember that currently none of the proposals reported in the Times are confirmed, however as students at Salford and nationally we should be ready for what is likely to be the outcome.
The National Union of Students (NUS), agreed at conference that we would be holding a National Demonstration on this very topic and we will be making sure as many Salford Students go to it to ensure the voice of students is heard by the MP's that run our country.
Locally we will be continuing to lobby MP's in the local area to ensure that when this comes to the house of commons, we ensure that they have heard both sides of the argument.
We will also be lobbying our Vice Chancellor Martin Hall, to ask him the very questions I have posed in this blog. Can he show to the student body any benefit they have seen since the introduction of top up fees? Does he support a 'true market' for fees that will price out so many students from Higher Education?





What can you do?
As I am sure you aware on Thursday the country will take to the polls and this is your opportunity to have your voice and use your vote.
Over the last week we have been working with NUS on the Vote for Students' Campaign. The campaign is very simple to ask MP's and prospective MP's to sign up to the following pledge

“I pledge to vote against any increase in fees in the next parliament and to pressure the government to introduce a fairer alternative”

The results of all the people that have signed the pledge is available online http://nus.org.uk/Global/FULLVOTEFORSTUDENTSLIST280410.xls and I urge you that when you cast your vote this week you consider who has and who has not signed the pledge.
Politically the next year is going to be a huge challenge not just in the area of tution fees, but also some of the proposed public sector cuts we may see. You will be seeing the Students' Union doing a lot of work over the upcoming weeks and months.

If you have a keen interest in the subject of this blog post send me an email at vphsc-ussu@salford.ac.uk and I can keep you upto date in all the union is doing.

Ricky Chotai
Vice President Health and Social Care
Tel: 0161 351 5424 | Mobile: 07540222310
Web: www.salfordstudents.com | Twitter: www.twitter.com/SalfordVPHSC


NB Thankyou for John Pert from the NUS NEC for alerting me to the link.