At the moment, if you’re aged 24+ and you want to take A levels, or a BTEC, or a level 3 apprenticeship, the Government pays 50 per cent of your course fee. From September 2013, anyone aged 24 and above who wants to study a level 3 qualification will have to pay full fees.
This cut in funding will be hugely damaging to further education, normally a place where adults can get a second chance if they’ve been failed the first time around.
- How will adults re-train to find work in the current economic climate?
- How will they access higher level apprenticeships?
- And how will they afford Access to HE courses?
The government is introducing a system of student loans into further education, to cover the course fee at level 3. This means if you want to take a level 3 course and then go to university, you may have to take out two student loans. And if you want to take a level 3 apprenticeship, you’ll have to take out a loan to go to work.
This policy doesn’t make any sense. We say No to FE Fees.