UK: Students to lobby MPs over fees

22 March 2009

Students are to lobby Parliament in a protest against university top-up fees, reports BBC News. The National Union of Students, joined by former Education Secretary David Blunkett, will ask MPs to support alternative funding. More than 50% of university chiefs want students to pay at least £5,000 (US$7,182) per year or for there to be no upper limit.

But the NUS says annual fees of £7,000 would leave students £32,000 in debt. They say students should pay according to how much they earn after university.

The NUS says about 100 students will meet at the House of Commons later and lobby MPs to support a five-point alternative funding system. The proposals include greater flexibility in the way student support is assessed, funding that is relative to students' "true needs", greater efficiency within the funding system, and re-establishment of "the financial compact between the state, individuals and employers".
Full report on the BBC News site

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