Poorest students will be considerably worse off under new system

Sally Hunt is the general secretary of the University and College Union (UCU)

When pushing hard to persuade Liberal Democrat MPs to break their pre-election pledge to vote against any rise in fees, coalition ministers made much of the access agreements that any institution wishing to charge more than £6,000 would have to sign, which they said would ensure access for poorer students. Ministers also trumpeted the fact that any institution that breached or failed to deliver its access agreement would face a fine of up to £500,000.

Cambridge-University-students-graduating Along with details of the agreements announced yesterday, there was also more on a scholarship programme designed to help students from the poorest backgrounds. Looking first at the scholarships, and leaving to one side the fact they are a tacit admission higher fees will put poorer students off, students from the poorest backgrounds will actually be considerably worse off under the new system.

Under the current system, students from poorer backgrounds do not have the millstone of tuition fee debt around their necks when they graduate, because their fees are, in the main, covered by grants and bursaries. Under the new system the scholarship money they receive will go nowhere near covering their fees, leaving them with a considerable bill on graduation.

Moving on to the access agreements. There was no mention of the fines in yesterday’s press release from the business department and let’s not forget that we had strong words about universities’ obligations to improve social mobility when fees originally came in and OFFA was established in 2004. The vast majority of the Russell Group universities are failing to meet the targets set for them, but no institution has ever been sanctioned.

The government’s claim that institutions would only charge fees higher than £6,000 a year in exceptional circumstances is entirely bogus. Every single English institution with undergraduates will have to charge more than £6,000 just to plug the funding gap the government has created by slashing the teaching budget. The average fee will need to be £6,863.

All the government has done is tinker with a failed system that cannot mask its systematic removal of access to education. The entire landscape of higher education will change under the new system. Shifting the burden of paying for a university education from the state to the student will not generate the extra funds universities need, nor will it provide an enhanced experience for the individual student.

The public are not stupid and they will soon see the access agreements for what they really are – a toothless bribe to give some Liberal Democrat MPs an excuse to break the pre-election pledge to vote against any increase in fees. When put alongside the abolition of the EMA, fees, cuts in funding and cuts in jobs it is even clearer that the access agreement and scholarships are pathetic responses and merely political fig leaves to cover up a government busy destroying our education system and the hopes and aspirations of students and their families.

http://twitter.com/lisybabe/status/36071340817522688 Lisa E

RT @leftfootfwd: Poorest students will be considerably worse off under new system: http://bit.ly/gC6v7A writes @UCU gen sec Sally Hunt
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RT @leftfootfwd: Poorest students will be considerably worse off under new system: http://bit.ly/gC6v7A writes @UCU gen sec Sally Hunt
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RT @leftfootfwd: Poorest students will be considerably worse off under new system: http://bit.ly/gC6v7A writes @UCU gen sec Sally Hunt
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http://twitter.com/slasheduk/status/36088391225450496 SlashedUK

RT @leftfootfwd: Poorest students will be considerably worse off under new system: http://bit.ly/gC6v7A writes @UCU gen sec Sally Hunt
http://twitter.com/kantian3/status/36089308888702977 Gary Banham

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http://twitter.com/chr1sr0berts/status/36095139067727872 Chris Roberts

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http://twitter.com/hitchinengland/status/36104478243569664 Hitchin England

RT @ucu: Poorest students will be considerably worse off under new system: http://bit.ly/gC6v7A writes @UCU gen sec Sally Hunt on @leftf …
http://twitter.com/ldtuc/status/36106249409921024 L DTUC

RT @ucu: Poorest students will be considerably worse off under new system: http://bit.ly/gC6v7A writes @UCU gen sec Sally Hunt on @leftf …
http://twitter.com/saunteringfiend/status/36152505062797312 Nicola K

RT @ucu: Poorest students will be considerably worse off under new system: http://bit.ly/gC6v7A writes @UCU gen sec Sally Hunt on @leftf …
Julian

“Under the new system the scholarship money [poorer students] receive will go nowhere near covering their fees, leaving them with a considerable bill on graduation.

It will be considerable, but not so large as the bill for students from middle income backgrounds. And neither group will have to pay this bill until they are no longer poor. Why should students from poorer backgrounds who, if the universities educate them the same as other students, will earn the same as students from middle income backgrounds, pay less?

There seems to be a patronising attitude towards students from poor backgrounds which says they aren’t capable of understanding that they’ll have to pay nothing until they’re earning a good salary. Middle class/income kids are expected to understand this.
Mr. Sensible

Couldn’t agree more Sally.

I don’t know if you saw Nick Clegg on the BBC News Channel on Wednesday, but I recorded it and have just watched it.

In it, Clegg seemed to admit that he expects 60% of students to not pay off all the debt. If so, what will that do for the public finances?
http://twitter.com/cllrkrichards/status/36243233222688768 Kevin Richards

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http://twitter.com/girlgeeks/status/36466200904994817 Morna Simpson

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http://twitter.com/ccarvalho/status/36862249695977472 Claudio Carvalho

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http://twitter.com/myinfamy/status/39854282593402880 Daniel Pitt

Poorest students considerably worse off under new education system http://bit.ly/gC6v7A #ConDemNation
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