The CSR announced reductions in the university teaching budget to be "offset" by huge increases in tuition fees, proposed the abolition of the education maintenance allowance (EMA) which supports poorer students to afford staying on in further education, and suggested increased fees and loans for adult learners.
NUS said the fresh round of cuts would lead to the effective privatisation of universities and restricted opportunities for college students.
Aaron Porter, NUS President, said:
“This is a devastating blow to higher and further education that puts the future of colleges and universities at risk and will have repercussions for the future prospects of students and learners. This is a spending review that looks an entire generation in the eye and says ‘you’re on your own.’”
“Government ministers from both parties keep telling us that the deficit must be reduced to avoid passing a poisoned legacy to the next generation, but now they are proposing to eliminate almost all funding for university education whilst simultaneously transferring the debt onto students.
"Ministers who themselves received their university education for free are now saying that the next generation will have to do without.”
NUS and UCU have organised a national demonstration against cuts to further and higher education in central London on Wednesday 10 November 2010.