Battlefront You're Already Involved

Coming from a working/middle class family with a brother already attending university, I just thought I'd share my experience and ideas. With a dad who is out of work, and a mum with a full time job we are not in the best position to send someone to university, however the help from the government such as the maintenance grants have a made a substantial difference as they do not need to be repaid. Many courses at university also offer grants for the more unpopular/difficult courses, again making it easier. Similarly to the maintenance grants, EMA makes a huge difference by motivating students in sixth forms to stay in school, and achieve well, and in doing so helps the majority. By removing tuition fee's you run the risk of people taking degrees that are less useful, for example I know a student who spent 4 years studying anglo-saxon poetry and after graduating got a job as an estate agent. I'm not saying that university fee's shouldn't be lowered, or even removed completely but with every plan you have to understand how it will be exploited, and find ways to minimize it. Personally, I believe the EMA system works well, as it does not add hugely to taxes or take money from other areas of investment. Maybe something similar to that for University's would be useful, such as a grant that does not need to be repaid based on the course, number of siblings in the family, attendance and grades.

emily, 16, 19 December 2008 21:18

Hi everyone!!! Are we lookin 4ward the the demo today? well, unfortunatly, i have a really nasty stomch bug/maybe food poisoning which is making me feel really bad, so, i might not b able to stay for the full event but im gonna somehow drag myself of me sick bed lol n get to bham! wish me luck, n C u there, hopefully!:)

JAMES GREENHALGH, 13 December 2008 07:46

I hope its all still on as i might be in town next saturday so i might be abe to come. let us kniw wen u hear any news

Richard, 07 December 2008 22:52

CALL TO ACTION!!!!!! On saturday 13th December a demo against uni fees will be taking place in Centenary Square, Birmingham, at 12.30 till 2pm Support the cause, spread the word - FIGHT FOR WHAT WE BELEIVE IN! James

JAMES GREENHALGH, 04 December 2008 12:13

Im not gonna sit here and pretend i know all the ins and outs of the government policies regarding this issue, but what i do know is that tuition fees make it just that little ( massively huge) bit harder for people with ambition to acheive there goals, i think this is a wicked cause well done.

Lizy Morris, 03 December 2008 12:20

Good luck with the campaign. I'n in my fourth and final year of university and it hasn't been cheap. Apparently, I'm paying £35 a month interest on a £7k loan.. which I am unsure is right :s. I doubt I would have afforded to go to University if I had started a year later, when fees went up.

Andy Jones, 02 December 2008 12:39

very supportive of this campaign. I wonder if we are examining the disinformation given by Labour at the time top-up fees were introduced. eg the claim by Bill Rammell that without top-up fees a rise in standard tax of "3p or 4p" would be needed (in fact replacing top-up fee incmoe of £1.4 billion would mean a tax rise of about 1% or 1/4p on standard rate. I sent a Freedom of Information request on this issue to the DFES and they replied that by "standard" tax Rammell meant a "special graduate tax aimed just at graduates" - yeah right he did ! standard means special !!??? Or the claim that graduates earn £400k more over a lifetime (since sharply revised downwards to £160 - the original figure was described as flawed by Universities UK). Blair also claimed "poorly paid hospital workers" woudl benefit from top-up fees even though no advocate of tax funded HE ever suggested that poorly paid workers should have their tax hiked. good luck with it all.

bernard, 11 November 2008 09:49