To put things in context…

I’m going to start by being fiendishly self-centred and talking about me.

I’m from a working class background. I left home at 19 while in my second year of college; my living costs was funded purely by working 35 hour weeks, and eventually contract work alongside my studies before coming to Uni in 2006 – the year the £3,000 tuition fees were introduced. The Student Loans Company refused to consider me a self-sufficient student and took my mother’s income into account. I was fortunate; her financial situation entitled me to the maximum tuition fee and maintenace loans, supplementary grant, and I was also entitled to the Birmingham Scholarship and Grant based on my entry grades.

I might add that in 2007 – a year after the new fees were introduced, the SLC doubled the interest rates from 2.4% to 4.8%. When I graduate this June, I will have accumulated over £25,000 of debt.

I have a 15-year-old sister who hopes to study at University in a few years time. University would give her a chance to explore her potential and develop the knowledge and skills that she can bring back to society in her future career, and she certainly deserves that chance. She’s currently living with my father who is in a much better financial situation, and she probably won’t get the entitlement I got. She may not be able to go to University altogether.

I have gay friends who were disowned by their homophobic families and struggle to survive – while studying at college – with aspirations of University. If the top-up fees double they probably won’t be able to go to University.

It’s a dangerous precident

The very idea of raising tuition fees promotes the incredibly conservative notion that there is a direct correlation between intellectual potential and socio-economic background (The Daily Hate Mail tried to illustrate it as such in one of their “articles” earlier this year).

If our government allows fees to go up then it brings our nation’s higher education system back by at least a century, where only the elite, rich, straight, white students could go to University, as I seriously doubt that the SLC will support £7K yearly tuition fee loans.

More importantly, it’s been five years since the £3K tuition fees were introduced; how exactly has the quality of higher education improved in that time?

So what can be done about it?

• Fabian, and presidents from Student Unions/Guilds across the country have signed a petition protesting the Labour and Tory parties hiding behind this review.
• Edd started a small, active student group that I and three other LGBTQ members have joined.
• I’ve contacted my brother and a few friends in the Liberal Democrats; as the one party that has always decried top-up fees, they are truly our greatest ally. Ideally a massive national student boycott of all Labour and the Tories by voting LibDem or Green would at help balance things out.
• Nick Petrie and I are putting together a mini-site to keep track of the “tell David” campaign, the progress of the review and reactions across the country. It won’t just be for students; obviously we want to appeal to local people whose children will be barred from higher education by increasing the fees.
• More to come soon…

What’s standing in our way?

Something that has caused me to repeatedly banging my head against a wall is the fact that activist students are so involved; so passionate that they find the concept of an apathetic student hard to believe. In fact, they underestimate just how far apathy extends. The more the Guild tries to engage these students, the further they are pushed away. Trust me, I’ve lived with more than a few of them. However, like me, some of them have younger relatives and friends with University aspirations; and we can appeal to them on that basis. to get involved even to a basic level.

The same can be said for the seemingly built-in attitude of local residents that students are lazy, intrusive scum who take up space. However, I reminded myself of Brigid‘s blog post about University places. People were angry their kids wouldn’t be going to University; we can appeal to those people on that basis.

More to come on this as it develops!

Also, check out the FlashMob coverage from RedBrick, Guardian, Birmingham Mail, Birmingham Post.