Local students could face £7,000 tuition fees

There is now less than eight months to save a new generation of young people from huge increases in university tuition fees, according to Liberal Democrat spokesperson and teacher, David Lomax.

He was speaking after the Conservatives suggested they will increase tuition fees to £7,000 if they take power at the next general election, which has to be held by next June.

That will see tuition fees for undergraduates more than double. Currently there is a cap of £3,300 in England and Wales.

Peter Mandelson has already suggested that Labour will allow universities to charge more than at present if re-elected - though the party is too scared to push through the changes it wants before June.

Only the Liberal Democrats will scrap tuition fees. The party believes university education should be free and everyone who has the ability should be able to go - and not be put off by the cost.

David Lomax said: "We have encouraged students to go to university. But if you look around High Peak we have many young people who have returned with no job and a bank balance tens of thousands of pounds in the red.

What sort of message is that?

"Labour and now the Tories are showing their true colours. They don't care about young people - they just want to saddle them with staggering amounts of debt.

"The choice is clear: the people of High Peak can vote for a politician who will condemn a generation of youngsters or for the Liberal Democrats who will make education free again, giving young people the best possible start."

NOTES TO EDITORS

1) The National Union of Students estimates that the average cost of attending university now stands at more than £42,000. The average graduate will have accrued nearly £20,000 of debt by the end of a three-year course.

2) For more details on the Tories' university policy see Daily Express,

15 October: "Student debt to soar as tuition fees could rise to £7,000 a

year" http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/134074/Student-debt-to-soar-

3) For more details on Labour's university policy see Daily Mail, 28 July:

"Liberal Democrats are the only party which believes university education

should be free and everyone who has the ability should be able to go to university and not be put off by the cost."

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1202408/Middle-class-face-7-000-tu

ition-fees-pay-poor-Mandy-warns-excellence-cheap.html

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