THE RISE AND
FALL OF HIGHER EDUCATION
September marked
the beginning of the first educational year in which university tuition fees
rose to a maximum of £9,000. Whilst for
the current year, the average fee is £8,507, the
Office for Fair Access predicts that 2013/2014 applicants are more likely to be
paying £9,000 as 3 in 4 universities are set to charge the maximum amount.
This year, there
has been a significant fall in the number of students studying at universities,
with an almost 10% drop in applicants for the 2012/2013 year.
Emily Hoang,
a student from south-east London said “After
news came out that uni fees had escalated to £9,000 maximum, I instantly
thought: "Oh my god. Where am I going to get £9,000?" I thought again
and contemplated whether university was the path for me. However, recently and
very conveniently, uni students, lecturers and other university staff came to
our school and educated us about financial student aid that we are and can be
entitled to. They were really informative and actually changed my views on uni
fees. I learnt about the uni loan and repayment system, the small portion I
have to repay after graduating, and was eventually certain again that I wanted
to go to uni”
Nicky Kalia, 18 from Greenwich
commented that ”they [the fees] didn’t make me think twice because what I want
to do needs a degree, but I do feel overwhelmed that I’m going to be in debt
for a long time afterwards... It’s not good because a lot of people who would
have gone to university have been put off because of the fees,”
Adam Bligh- Hasan, a 17 year-old
student from Bexley said ”the fees made me angry because I believe in the right
to free education but I also value a university education enough to pay
regardless. A right that people are willing to make sacrifices for is an easy
right for the government to turn into a business transaction.”
“Whilst a lot of my friends weren’t
discouraged by the fees, I definitely had to have a rethink about going to a university,”
said 19 year-old receptionist Emma Langley. “I didn’t want to be in debt up
until my 40s, with the added pressure of being at a disadvantage when it comes
to getting a mortgage. For me, it was a much better option to leave college, get
a job straight away and go to night school.”
Jacob Armitage, a 22 year old
graduate commented that “What people often forget about the university
experience is that the tuition fees aren’t the full extent of the debt, they
don’t include the debt of maintenance loans and the interest placed on these
loans. Of course numbers of applicants will drop, I feel terrible for those of
you going to uni now; hopefully it won’t take long for the government to take
note of this and do something about it.”
In my own mind, the new fees are
ridiculous. How can it be that we live in a society which lacks skilled
professionals, yet we hinder the process of anyone gaining the necessary
qualifications? Students are encouraged to go to university to better their
chances of getting employment in their dream job, so why should attaining our
dreams come at the cost of well over £27,000?
No comments:
Post a Comment