First rant in a while comes in relation to student tuition fees, having not agreed with the way in which some students (and more likely, a few randoms) saw this as an excuse to get enraged and start throwing the odd punch and anything else they can get their hands on, I have remained quiet (other than the odd inter-friendship group debate). Yet I have to say it infuriates me. Having decided to enter education much later than the norm, giving up my income was a difficult decision enough, let alone the amount of consideration I would had to have given the decision if fees had been what they are now.
University has been an incredible experience for me, despite my doubts when I first made the leap back into education, and I have found myself loving learning and developing knowledge in an area I am very passionate about. It is an experience that ALL should be entitled too, not only those whose parents can afford to subsidise them, or those who can acquire sponsors. For many the sacrifice of giving up an income or merely the consideration of the, now overwhelming, debt they will leave university with may be a huge put off. Now I appreciate that for many University is an obvious step from school or college and often is done without much thought for other options, I know I was in a very small minority not going to University straight from my school. But should it really come down to finances to decide who is ‘entitled’ to that experience? What about those with children, families to support? Yes there are additional bursaries but with the increase are they ever going to be enough?
Whatever a person’s reasons for going to university I truly believe it is an enriching one, whether it be in terms of social skills, presentations skills, confidence, developing understand of yourself, the best way you learn, learning to have and to voice opinions, developing understanding and knowledge in areas of interest, use of the library and other learning resources, planning, learning to budget, and other skills to aid moving away from home and into the ‘real world’. As well as skills in hunting down the discount sections of Sainsbury’s or Tesco’s, time keeping (with Sainsbury’s ‘taster’ sessions, nothing like a free picnic), developing the ability to stomach Tesco’s own vodka, understanding why ‘Home Bargains‘ is in existence, why it is big and clever to run around the athletics track naked at 2am, tolerance (when you are woken at 4am because your housemate ‘had the shitest / best night ever’ and needs to tell you about it NOW).
So upon reading about the governments new White Paper of which the title is ‘Students at the Heart of the System’ I found myself thinking, why wasn’t this always the main focus? The suggestion being that the student is now a customer and entitled to demand value for money. So was I and all the millions of students to attend university before this date not entitled to such demands? Only recently I found myself questioning my ‘value for money’ upon attending my first lecture of the semester and being told ‘you don’t really need to bother coming to these lectures’ unfortunately that particular lecturer was correct, I probably would have learnt more from home, however this was very much a one-off the huge majority of my lecturers were fantastic, encouraging, passionate and inspiring.
A personal favourite section ‘The Office of Fair Access (Offa) will have its resources increased and monitor the plans and targets universities must set for attracting students from disadvantaged backgrounds if they want to charge more than £6,000 fees’ I’m biting my tongue about this section.
Are we going to find ourselves in the position of students applying to institutions based on what they can afford, rather than the course most suitable or the best in that specific area of study? Will we find we end up like the supermarkets, with only 5 or 6 big names?
It seems the focus is not at all the students but profit and by trying to place power in the hands of those students able to pay…who knows where the government maybe taken. I find it saddening that many will have to miss out on an enriching experience, at whatever stage of their life, due to money.
Hello ever-increasing class gap
The Facts of Life 