High Peak Liberal Democrats

Why does the Tory Government want students to be even poorer?

If you're a prospective undergraduate student, you'll have been shocked to see a number of universities, including Durham and Royal Holloway, offering courses above the £9000 a year threshold, which has now been increased to £9250. If you're a current student or have confirmed your place for September 2016, you'll be even more shocked to find out that your tuition fees could potentially increase, after you agreed on a price.

When applying for university, b oth student finance and my school assured me not to worry about the student loans: I would only be paying it back if I earned £21,000 and until I was 50 years old, and I would be getting a lovely bursary to support me through too, due to coming from a low income family. Of course that's all changed and I will now be in about £60,000 worth of debt due to doing a four year course and my reliance on the bursary from Student Finance England. With tuition fees rising, is there really any incentive for students to go to university in the UK?

Jo Johnson said that 'higher fees lead to better teaching', yet the QS top 100 universities is not entirely dominated by British universities, with only 15 English universities making the top 100 and three Scottish universities making their way to top 100 (all of which are free to Scots and EU Nationals). In comparison there are a number of EU universities making the top 100 which have no tuition fees to EU students, including Germany, Finland and Denmark, with others offering incredibly low fees such as the Netherlands and France and many of these cheap or free courses are offered in English. That's a lot better value for money if it's £9000 a year (potentially more) cheaper for the same quality of education and same standard of universities.

It's not just undergraduates who are struggling. A number of the universities in London are offering Masters degrees that cost more than £10,000 - which is how much student loan you get for the entire year to cover your living costs and tuition fees. With the high living costs of London, how is anyone expected to continue their education there, unless one was to work long hours and subsequently risk the quality of their Masters degree?

Let's hope that there will be another general election soon and we can vote for a party that will stand up for us, and not expect people to celebrate their 21st birthday in thousands of pounds worth of debt.

Maybe it's also time for schools to encourage students to explore their options in a European country that isn't the UK, in hope that maybe that will make the Government sit up and realise that they're potentially losing some of their top graduates, especially if they're telling international students to return to their home country upon graduation.

* Anna Pitcher is a 20-year-old languages student living in Germany. She is a member of the Liberal Democrats.

Anna Pitcher is a 20-year-old South Lincolnshire languages student living in Germany. She is a member of the Liberal Democrats

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