The National Union of Students today challenged Liberal Democrat Leader and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg to address students and explain his party’s support for the changes made to the higher education funding system since the rise in tuition fees.
Figures released today show that as universities struggle to cope with the moving goal posts of HE funding policy another £13.8m has been taken out of students pockets meaning a total of £70m less by 2015. The changed rules reward average fees of under £7,500 encouraging universities to use fee waivers, which no student and most graduates will never see the benefit of, instead of bursaries which put money directly into students’ pockets.
25 institutions have changed their Access Agreements with almost all electing to move funding from bursaries and scholarships to few waivers. When the drop in bursary spending announced today is combined with earlier Access Agreement figures it means £70m less than today will be reaching students pockets by 2015.
Liam Burns, NUS President, said:
“Mr Clegg and his colleagues promised that a £150m National Scholarship Programme would support students but in effect not only will none of this money reach students’ pockets but there will actually be a drop of £70m.
“Fee waivers are a con trick that will only benefit graduates who are earning enough to pay off their student loans within 30 years. They help the Treasury, who have to spend less on loans, but are of no benefit to students whatsoever. The Government’s ‘Access Tzar’ Simon Hughes himself said that students should be able to choose bursaries over fee waivers.
“The perverse incentives of the Government’s changes mean that poorer pupils are encouraged towards courses and universities that have less funding a complete reverse of the ‘pupil premium’ that Mr Clegg has championed for younger learners.”
“NUS Annual Conference will be held in Sheffield next spring and I challenge Mr Clegg to face the students whose vote he courted at the last election and explain his continued support for these disastrous reforms.”