Student march

'Stop top-ups'

Dec 6 2002
By Vicky Wilks

South London Press

STUDENTS look to have won a major victory following a protest march against top-up fees with ended a rally in Kennington Park.

Thousands of students marched through London on Wednesday calling for the Government not to introduce top-up fees for degree students, but instead bring back student grants.

The same day, Tony Blair ruled out the idea of universities being allowed to charge more for popular courses.

The Government has been reviewing how university students are funded. The ideas of students paying a larger proportion of their fees themselves, higher interest rates on student loans and a graduate tax, have all been floated.

Students pay a quarter of their tuition fees, which is about £1,100 a year.

If they paid the full amount, students would have to find £4,500 for each year of their degree, as well as cash for living costs.

The National Union of Students (NUS) says if introduced, then by the time an 11-year-old went to university, he or she would pay £16,451 in fees over three years and £22,729 in living costs - a total of £39,180 for a higher education.

NUS president Mandy Telford said: "Top-up fees will quite simply cripple our higher education. With fees at this level it is quite clear many people will not be able to afford university in the future."

Unison, the UK's largest union, also joined the march and rally. The Government has set a target of getting 50 per of 18 to 30-year-olds into higher education by 2010.

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