NUS welcomed the UUK and Guild HE’s response to student concerns and their commitment to partnership in the new HE landscape.
The statement was agreed following discussions with NUS after its Come Clean week of action this month, and says that ‘no student or applicant should be disadvantaged academically because of any additional costs’ and commits to publishing guidance for universities in Autumn 2012.
The NUS Come Clean Week of Action saw thousands of students around the UK asking their universities to make clear to prior to application all course costs, to absorb essential costs within the tuition fee, and offer means tested support for non-essentials.
In a similar move the Quality Assurance Agency this week published guidance for institutions to encourage them to make clear all additional course costs to applicants.
NUS President, Liam Burns, said:
“The extra costs of higher education have for years left many students struggling to keep up and this will be welcome reassurance.
“It is unacceptable to charge students for essential parts of their course when they are already paying up to £9,000 in fees. Universities must be transparent about non-essential costs and make a commitment to students that there will not be further additions throughout the course.
“We welcome UUK and GuildHE’s very positive response to this important issue and their ongoing commitment to working in partnership with students in the new higher education landscape.
“Great campaigning work by students means that universities are starting to come clean and I hope that the government will follow suit and come clean on their plans for restructuring the higher education sector.”
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