The 'Grants Not Fees' battle is in full swing as the election looms. Owain James leads the charge.
It was thrilling to learn that education secretary David Blunkett had announced the government's firm commitment to rule out top-up fees for the term of the next parliament.
His simple statement gained only modest media coverage. But to the National Union of Students it showed the importance of committed campaigning in a close-fought struggle with prominent vice-chancellors and politicians of all persuasions. Each of the three main parties has now come out unequivocally against top-up fees.
The NUS nightmare vision of fees exceeding £10,000 a year for, say, a medicine degree, has been conclusively laid to rest. Well, for the next five years or so anyway. However, I am not going to sit back: the ruling out of top-up fees does not help those in hardship right now. With the Conservatives floating the idea of commercial interest rates for student loan repayment, things could get worse.
The union's "Grants Not Fees" campaign aims to win back targeted maintenance grants and end tuition fees. Action Week, which starts on Monday, is a central plank of the campaign. Student unions up and down the country will reassert our demand for targeted maintenance grants and opposition to up-front fees.
Student hardship is a national concern. The NUS estimates that average graduate debt next year will be £12,000 for those from lower-income families. Little more than half of full-time students paid tuition fees last year, with a third of those paying the full rate and one in ten paying a set contribution. Two out of ten families do not pay the fees they are expected to pay for their children, leaving the student to pay on average £579 a year towards them. Most do this by using their student loan, which is supposed to be for living costs.
While a lot of families very much want their children to go to university, in practice many cannot afford the level of parental contribution at which they have been assessed. The NUS wants to channel the distress and hardship this causes into a positive force. That is why we have launched the Parent Power campaign and why we want to draw in schools, their governors, teachers and pupils.
More than a third of undergraduates work part time. The majority agree that this has an adverse effect academically, causing them to miss lectures and deadlines, and leads to a general level of fatigue, which is counter-productive to study.
It also means that they have less time to become fully immersed in university life, including the myriad clubs and societies, meeting people from diverse cultures and backgrounds and the variety of sports and social events on offer.
Since 1998 when fees were introduced, there has been a downward trend in the numbers of African, Caribbean and working-class men applying to university. There has also been a year-on-year decline in applications from mature students. Prospective students from these groups are being deterred by the perceived levels of debt they are likely to incur.
Research shows that privately educated students and those from AB groups anticipate owing more than £1,000 less than their C1 and C2DE counterparts. C1 and C2DE groups worry more about their debt and are likely to have a harder time paying it off because on average they earn less on entering the workforce than ABs.
If the UK is to create a truly inclusive society with a workforce trained and equipped for the 21st century, class divisions must be tackled in education. To do this the government needs to broaden the scope of targeted maintenance grants and remove the financial burden of tuition fees.
To highlight the issues of grants not fees, student hardship and the widest possible participation in education, students are refusing to attend lectures on March 1, National Education Shutdown Day. Campuses throughout the country will come to a standstill, sending out a clear message. If students are forced to endure hardship any longer empty lecture theatres will become the norm rather than the exception.
Owain James is president of the National Union of Students.