Student Struggle . . .
By Dermot Keenan
The start of the 2006 / 2007 academic years brings with it, for the first time, the burden of top up fees on new students. Previously, most students in Britain and the North (except Scottish students studying in Scotland) pay a contribution towards their tuition fees (anything from £0-£1,250 a year).
The amount they pay is based on their, or their parents' income (called means-testing) in the tax year proceeding each academic year. Under this new system Universities will be able to charge students anything from £0 up to a maximum of £3,000 per year. In order to charge more than a basic £1,250 fee, universities must satisfy a new Office for Fair Access (OFFA) that their admissions policies are equitable. Nearly all universities have chosen to charge the full £3,000. Rather than pay the fees up front (as is the case now), they will be paid by the government-owned Student Loans Company (SLC), the same body that currently provides student loans. The SLC will also continue to pay means-tested student loans directly to students. Students will repay their loans and tuition fees after graduation in the same income-dependent way as at present. Interest on the loans will still be tied to inflation, so they have a zero 'real' rate of interest.
This policy clearly goes against the promises of the British Labour government in their election manifesto where the clearly stated that they would not introduce such measures. The introduction of top up fees will have a damaging effect on the amount of applicants for third level education. The large accumulation of debt that students will face under the higher education Act 2004 is an obvious turn off for students wanting to progress to third level education. Would you really want to be in £30,000 debt after 3 years of studying? And this is not just hypothetically speaking. Its results are already evident, with UCAS reporting 12,000 fewer applications this year for third level courses. So here we have a situation where degree level education is readily available only to the rich. Any average working class family are unlikely to be able to afford such high fees without incurring thousands of pounds worth of debt, is this fair? Certainly not and will inevitably lead to an even larger gap in the divide between the rich and poor, as the rich can afford the education they get the higher paid jobs and a system of elitism and class struggle emerges far greater than presently experienced.
So what is the solution? Is their an alternative available to middle and working class families or should students continue to struggle, enduring the pressures of demanding courses while also having to work part time jobs to pay off top up fees? The fact is that the British Government are putting corporate profits and millionaires fortunes above people’s needs for public services like healthcare and education including higher Education. One possible solution to this problem is increasing taxation on the rich and introducing free education for all. Give all people a fair and equal chance regardless of their socio-economic class. The benefit of this is highlighted in Cuba where all education is free, and since the Castro led revolution, literacy levels have continually climbed with the total literacy rate in 2005 being 97.3%.
Now more than ever the radical tradition of students is required to demand action against the current unfair system of top up fees. We as members of Ógra Shinn Féin must be to the fore in this campaign, we must continue to lobby the British government, to take direct action and do away with these shackles of capitalist oppression. Under our goal of a 32 County Socialist Democratic Republic the current state of affairs would not be allowed to exist, this is why we as the youth of today must unite and fight against Top up fees. The Student Struggle goes on…. Be a part of it!
JOIN ÓGRA SHINN FÉIN!
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