‘Tuition fees have failed. Student poverty and debt are getting worse’
This is only the first line of a medium sized leaflet handed out to me during a recent Freshers event.
When first given this leaflet, I didn’t think much of it:
‘Yes, students are trying again to fight against tuition fees’ and ‘students are going to waste their time campaigning, again’. However, as a first year undergraduate, the message is crystal clear.
With UK foundation and undergraduate courses costing a staggering £9,000 or more each year (having once been £3,000) and little student loan provided to those living away and even less to those living at home, the cost of higher education, deemed by some as the ‘necessity of life’ is appearing to show its cracks.
With the poorest of students being pushed out of university or simply choosing not to apply due to the staggering student debt (which many argue is borrowed but will never be payed back) has left education organisations such as The NUS (The National Union of Students) fighting back.
Their alternative: Free education
With universities becoming ‘profit-driven corporations’, the aim of educational organisations has been to march for a free education for all. With the message for a free education at the top of their agenda and a demand for the abolition of the EMA (Education Maintenance Allowance) many have been encouraging an end to student debt. Once and for all!
In the run up to 2015 general elections, all students need to come together and fight against an educational system that is putting us in debt, forcing us into low paying jobs and neglecting the fact that we are the future!
So, will you stand and fight for a free education on Wednesday 19 November?
info@freeeducationdemo.com // www.freeeducationdemo.com // fb.com/nationalstudentdemo
- Assemble 12 noon, Wednesday 19 November, at Malet Street, London WC1E