Tuition Fees: Poorest students will get up to two years FREE tuition!

[Chippiewill]

After having a long hard think about it I have decided to change my position on this, 90% of people trying to go to university will be in the same situation; their parents will not pay their university fees, they'll have to get a loan etc. Only every few in the upper middle classes will have it paid for them and when you think about it the lower class will be in the same place, getting a loan and they will be mostly financially independent from their family.

Therefore everyone going to university will be in roughly the same position financially because their finances will not be dependent on their families. The only problem then is the high price over the several years, £27,000 for three year courses, however thus far people graduating in america have still succeeded with higher than this debt and do not spend the rest of their life paying it all off.

In fact you could say it's those who aren't going to receive this free tuition fees that are going to lose out as they are going to be given an unfair disadvantage.

I could be wrong, but thinking about it I don't see much of a problem.

[Suspective]

I think this is unfair quite frankly. As others have said, most people's parents won't be paying for their higher education - they will be getting a student loan. Our government is far to generous. They pay people to go to school, and now their paying people to go to university.

I don't get why your parent's incomes are always being brought into this. So basically, you are getting a good cheaper education compared to others; just because your parents are on benefits. This country isn't right. What happened to a fair and equal chance for everyone?

The government think getting over 45,000 a year makes you rich, it doesn't.

[FlyingJesus]

Sorry to possibly change topic, but isn't the fact you only pay when you have a job earning 21k+ meant to balance it out (to a certain extent)? I mean, my parents won't pay for my uni and I will obviously do so, so what if I get a job for 21k after uni, and a poor person get's one for 24k? Surely I am the poor one in that circumstance? But even so, I would still be able to pay off debt.

In the end, it's pretty pointless seeing as the "pay after" thing is in place. It's like scraping the top layer of a cake and saying you don't want it anymore as the rest is too rich (in flavour).

I quite agree, the hefty raise in what wage you start repayments at more than balances out the rise in fees in my view (obviously you can more comfortably make repayments if you earn £21000 than you could if you're earning £15000), I just think this latest part of the plan is stupid

[Metric1]

Poor people need to fix their lives. GET $$$

[alexxxxx]

what i don't understand is the government's idea that somehow people from lower income families should deserve more help than from middle-income families.

The responsibility of paying back the loan will be on the Student - not the family! The idea that every middle class family can afford to help out their children at university is frankly stupid. It could be possible that people from lower income families could come out with less debt than someone from a middle-income family, hardly fair is it?

Cut the armed forces, abolish all fees.

[-:Undertaker:-]

Cut the armed forces, abolish all fees.

Nothing left to cut from our run down armed forces, although we could cut the £10bn+ that we give directly to the European Union? or what about the £10bn+ in foreign aid that we give away to countries that mostly despise us? as for abolishing fees - make degrees even more worthless than they currently are? Not everybody is suited to university.

[alexxxxx]

Nothing left to cut from our run down armed forces, although we could cut the £10bn+ that we give directly to the European Union? or what about the £10bn+ in foreign aid that we give away to countries that mostly despise us? as for abolishing fees - make degrees even more worthless than they currently are? Not everybody is suited to university.

Most degrees are not worthless. My degree is certainly not worthless and infact requires 20+hours of contact time in university a week. When emerging EU nations have graduation rates higher than the UK, it is clear that education is valued well across the whole of the world and by employers. If anything it shows commitment to a cause and progression. Not everyone is suited to university, but it's up to the person to decide that for themselves, not someone else. I think tuition fees as they are fairly fair, if not a bit expensive for 4 or more year courses (like mine).

The real issue is the collapse in funding from central government and the fact that students will be paying more for less.

[tnuCAsggelC]

I'll just raise this thread up a little bit. I can't be bothered going through the whole thread to pick out every quote so I'll just go off the OP's viewpoint.

Do you honestly believe this is the end? Do you seriously believe we'll sit down and take it from the Government because they've passed this tosh? If so then you're very silly. The poll tax vote was passed and yet that was removed after a couple of years because the people carried on in what they believe in. The previous generation got us into this mess because they took it from the Government. They're the generation you'll find on many internet forums moaning about how students should get a job and a shower. The generation which even believe the statement "the students need to get used to a lying Government, they've been doing it for years" is fine. It's the generation which can't see that if they stood up instead of trying to get an invite to the show Grumpy Old Men then the Government wouldn't have pished this country down the pan.

It's our generation which is having to pay because of them. This isn't right and won't happen. What we've seen so far is amazing. Our generation is the one which wasn't meant to look any further than Facebook, XBOX and X Factor and yet we've seen thousands turning out across the country to show the Government that we won't bend over for them like the previous generation did. We've witnessed school children abandoning lessons and taking to the streets. When I was in school I'm pretty sure if someone got involved in something like this then they would have been laughed at and called a politcal geek (or something along those lines) however now even the children are seeing it's time to take a stand! It's amazing. At the Roscoe Occupation we had a speaker in who was in year nine, he wasn't fazed at all to speaking to a room full of hundreds of 17-24+ year olds. It was great to see. It's us who are meant to pay 9K a year (don't believe the hype, the vast majority will have to pay 9K) plus added interest. We're only allowed to pay it over years because it allows time for the interest to build up which equals more money to the Government.

The Government underestimated us. They thought we wouldn't think this was "cool" and wouldn't bother fighting back. The Government believed only a few "geeks" would turn out, this was proven in the amount of police on hand at the initial London protest in November. They had a shock and the police were shown up. It was amusing to see the red faces but then they tried to get revenge. They opted for heavy handed tactics, they kettled us and charged us with horses to try and eat away at our belief. This didn't work.

As you saw last week we turned out again, and we will continue turning out. The police are continuing using heavy handed tactics, ripping wheel chair users out of the wheel chairs and putting people in hospital to have brain operations. We shall not stand for this. If the police want to copy the Italian heavy handed approach then we shall copy our European friends in our fightback. As the old saying goes, fight fire with fire... the only difference is we will literally use fire like our European friends in Greece 2008.

If you thought last weeks violence was "scary" then I'd get behind the sofa now as next year the "poo" will seriously hit the fan. Workers unions shall be hitting the streets next year, we shall be seeing students and workers uniting on a national scale. You'll witness scenes like last week across the country. I for one support it all (minus the damage to the memorial). We have to fight back, the Government don't care about peaceful protests. The only way to get at them is to cost them money and how do we do that? By mass damage to the country. Let the night skies light up with an orange glow.

You say cut back, we say fight back.

[FlyingJesus]

Do you honestly believe this is the end? Do you seriously believe we'll sit down and take it from the Government because they've passed this tosh?

Yes once you've stopped crying and realised that the changes benefit you

Our generation is the one which wasn't meant to look any further than Facebook, XBOX and X Factor and yet we've seen thousands turning out across the country to show the Government that we won't bend over for them like the previous generation did. We've witnessed school children abandoning lessons and taking to the streets.

What are you on about? Getting children to leave school isn't difficult lol

It's us who are meant to pay 9K a year (don't believe the hype, the vast majority will have to pay 9K) plus added interest. We're only allowed to pay it over years because it allows time for the interest to build up which equals more money to the Government.

Ok now you're just proving how little you know. The absolute minority will be paying 9k because there are only going to be a handful of institutions allowed to charge that much as a top fee, so I don't know where you're getting this "vast majority" idea. Furthermore, there is little to no interest on student loans - whoops! Got you again

It was amusing to see the red faces but then they tried to get revenge. They opted for heavy handed tactics, they kettled us and charged us with horses to try and eat away at our belief. This didn't work.

As you saw last week we turned out again, and we will continue turning out. The police are continuing using heavy handed tactics, ripping wheel chair users out of the wheel chairs and putting people in hospital to have brain operations. We shall not stand for this. If the police want to copy the Italian heavy handed approach then we shall copy our European friends in our fightback. As the old saying goes, fight fire with fire... the only difference is we will literally use fire like our European friends in Greece 2008.

What are you some sort of internet Castro wannabe? The students started the fights not the police, the only times the police have been "heavy handed" is when it's necessary, and the idea of LET'S GO HIT POLICEMEN THIS WILL SOLVE OUR PROBLEMS gives you absolutely no credibility and only serves to show you as a fool who is possibly a danger to a few individual persons but no great revolutionary. Kettling and horse charges weren't done because all policemen hate students or some such nonsense, it was done to contain the protests to the areas they were meant to be performed in, and it was people like you who think violence is the way to get a message across that forced the situation - the police are not to blame, you are.

If you thought last weeks violence was "scary" then I'd get behind the sofa now as next year the "poo" will seriously hit the fan. Workers unions shall be hitting the streets next year, we shall be seeing students and workers uniting on a national scale. You'll witness scenes like last week across the country.

Errr what have workers and unions got to do with this issue? Do you actually know what it is that you're protesting about?

We have to fight back, the Government don't care about peaceful protests. The only way to get at them is to cost them money and how do we do that? By mass damage to the country. Let the night skies light up with an orange glow.

You say cut back, we say fight back.

Spoken like a true hero fool. You want the government to give you money for nothing and the way you plan to get them to do so is... cost them more money. Congratulations. I don't know how old you are but personally I'm ashamed to say it took me until the age of 14 to realise that *+*AnArChY~+* is not cool or effective, I can only hope that your words and opinions come from the naïveté of youth rather than you actually believing them as a young adult

[CleggsTheDevil]

Yes once you've stopped crying and realised that the changes benefit you

The changes do not help me in anyway. Eight years ago a man achieved his degree for 1K, now students are being made to pay 6K to 9K on a mass scale. If I were to go to University I would be given a life full of debt with added interest which would fund the Governments Christmas bonuses and unwanted wars. The EMA cuts although do not affect me, will affect many young people. EMA shouldn't be cut although a new scheme should come into play. This scheme should offer bus tickets, train tickets, work tools and food tickets for the poorest students. It shouldn't be a mass cut, that's simply a stupid move.

What are you on about? Getting children to leave school isn't difficult lol

Getting children to come out and make speeches written by themselves about a political movement is difficult. These are political fuelled speeches which really are quite motivating and moving. Of course it's not hard to attract the filth of the society but that's not what we're talking about. We're talking about children no more than 15 coming out onto the streets and attending meetings, talking to a vast amount of people who are considerably older than themselves. They show a lot of courage and confidence which they didn't have before, you can tell they're fully behind the movements.

Ok now you're just proving how little you know. The absolute minority will be paying 9k because there are only going to be a handful of institutions allowed to charge that much as a top fee, so I don't know where you're getting this "vast majority" idea. Furthermore, there is little to no interest on student loans - whoops! Got you again

Do not listen to the Government, after all several months ago they were telling us we wouldn't need to pay anything. You will have to pay 9K at most places and this will come with interest. The fees owed will mount up and you will be living with debt. Parents shouldn't need to send children into the world knowing when they turn eighteen they'll take on a huge amount of debt which will stick with them for years.

What are you some sort of internet Castro wannabe? The students started the fights not the police, the only times the police have been "heavy handed" is when it's necessary, and the idea of LET'S GO HIT POLICEMEN THIS WILL SOLVE OUR PROBLEMS gives you absolutely no credibility and only serves to show you as a fool who is possibly a danger to a few individual persons but no great revolutionary. Kettling and horse charges weren't done because all policemen hate students or some such nonsense, it was done to contain the protests to the areas they were meant to be performed in, and it was people like you who think violence is the way to get a message across that forced the situation - the police are not to blame, you are.

The students did not start the fights. The students simply didn't want to follow the intended route away from the media cameras and into a police kettle to be beaten. This was the plan of the filth. Instead we diverted away from here and picked up media cameras along the way preventing the police from having the planned fun. The police were trying to intimidate the crowd and covered up I.D's. People were told we could leave the kettle if we went to a certain area, at this area we were greeted by another police line with mounted police. This is where they told us to go back to where we came from, many didn't agree and told the police we were told to come here. At this point the filth withdrew the batons. I didn't state that you should hit officers although when they hand out force you should hand it back, after all we do live in an equal society do we not?

The kettling was a joke. Many of us were kept on a bridge until the early hours. We told them we had a coach to catch and they let two people out of the kettle, we had 50 people in our group to get the coach. We were given a number of insults and effectively made to stop in the poor excuse of a capital until the mega bus in the morning. The police implement the kettles to try and discourage people from attending. You get cold, hungry and tired and yet you're not allowed out. Then they boil over. The police know what they get from kettles. They boil just like your own kettle.

Errr what have workers and unions got to do with this issue? Do you actually know what it is that you're protesting about?

Please tell me you're not trying to debate with a man in a subject you do not fully know? The workers unions have always been a part of our campaigns. We're protesting against a number of things which have come from the Government cuts. Education is our main point but we shall link arms with our worker friends against the Government. They support us and we support them. We're all against the cuts together. Next year will be big, workers unions and students will be making a stand against the Government.

Spoken like a true hero fool. You want the government to give you money for nothing and the way you plan to get them to do so is... cost them more money. Congratulations. I don't know how old you are but personally I'm ashamed to say it took me until the age of 14 to realise that *+*AnArChY~+* is not cool or effective, I can only hope that your words and opinions come from the naïveté of youth rather than you actually believing them as a young adult

We are not anarchist's. We are groups of individuals from all over, students to workers to retired. We are all in it together. If the Government do not listen to us peacefully we shall look up to those who got rid of the poll tax and see how they achieved this. We shall also look at those who won women the vote. We shall not look at failures such as those who protested against the war in the early 2000's. They are failures, we shall not be failures.

We do not want to overthrow the Government or the police, we simply want to get our voice head over the sound of money in the MP's wallet's.

For the record I don't feel I need to state my age although I shall go on record and state that I am not fourteen.

We shall continue occupying Universities in 2011, for now Roscoe shall go on a break. We shall recover over Christmas and plan our movements for 2011 for the year will bring a lot of action on the streets and if we plan carefully we can make our voice heard. We shall not stand down. You're the type we're up against, thankfully we do not let your type affect our beliefs. We shall unite and shall not be a failure.