To Those Who Know The Price Of Everything And The Value Of Nothing
Dear Government Ministers/ Vice Chancellors,
As the curtain falls on my university career, I find myself reflecting upon the amazing experience I have had. I think about the person I was when I entered Liverpool University almost three years ago and can hardly believe how much I have changed since then; through the wide variety of people I have met, the activities in which I have participated and the cultural differences I have been exposed to, I have become a confident, socially aware and open-minded young woman. With graduation fast approaching, it is time for me, like thousands of other students, to begin preparing for the future.
Unlike many of my Redbrick counterparts, however, my foreseeable future does not involve parental funded postgraduate study or backpacking in exciting far flung exotic destinations. Instead, coming from a low-income background and being a part of the first cohort of students to graduate with top up fee debt, my preparation consists of trawling through job websites at 2am in the morning, applying for low paid and low skilled work. In fact, applying for pretty much ANYTHING, just so that I can generate some kind of immediate income. Because I am panicking. I am panicking because I have no financial safety net whatsoever from my parents, particularly now during this recession. Things are so bad that I cannot even afford a ticket for my graduation ball, an occasion which should be the jubilant culmination of three years of hard work.
But these things I accept. I understood that entering higher education away from home as a poorer student would be difficult, so I can expect no more. Although the journey has at times been arduous, the financial hardships have been far transcended by the amazing gains I have made in other areas.
However, we are about to enter very dangerous ground on the Higher Education funding stage; with the HE Review fast approaching, I see money hungry Vice-Chancellors lobbying for tuition fees of £5-10,000 per year and I ask myself, would I have come to university if the fees had been so high? Knowing full well that my parents could not support me during or after study and that my chances of meaningful or enjoyable employment post graduation would be slim? At this moment in time, I am inclined to say that I do not think I would have.
Of course, Sir Martin Harris director of the Office of Fair Access (Offa) is quick to assure the dubious public that a raise in fees would not be off putting to poorer students. Your research, Sir Harris, is flawed; I am a product of a ‘widening participation’ background and I can quite categorically state that the price of a university education completely deters potential students NOW, never mind deterring them in the instance of a fee increase. I would be very interested to learn where exactly Offa gets its supporting evidence from. Perhaps they would reach a more accurate conclusion if they actually visited some ‘widening participation’ areas, instead of conducting their research from the comfort of an office in London, which is probably bigger and better facilitated than some ‘widening participation’ students family homes.
I ask you, should not people be rewarded for hard work and endeavour? Should one be able to further themselves in society if they are determined and capable? Quintessentially, should not access to higher education be based upon ability not affordability? Isn’t that what the university ethos is, the development and nurturing of natural skill and ability? We apparently live in a classless society but I can guarantee you, if the fees are raised or the cap removed altogether, the subsequent fallout will see the class distinctions very definitively withdrawn and there will be a complete regression in society as we know it.
I shall bring things to a close here but I implore you, do not snatch the opportunity of higher education from young people’s lives. As many of you will know from your own time at university, back when higher education was free, the skills and experiences gained during a university career are unrivalled by anything else; if somebody has worked hard enough to get to university, why should they not be able to reap these rewards?
The day a straight A student fills out an application form for ASDA instead of UCAS will be the day that I, along with countless others, will relinquish an already rapidly vanishing faith in the government of this country.
Many Thanks,
Kirsty Purnell
© 2008-2010. LSMEDIA is written, designed and produced independently by the students of the University of Liverpool.
Comments
Amazing kirsty. well put. It makes me sick reading about the issue and realising how unfair, and unnecessary it all is. i don't actually struggle for money particularly as a student day to day, but i'm very conscious of debt quietly building up and i very very nearly didn't begin 7years of architecture due to tuition fees, as i'm not from a rich background either. I deffinitely wouldnt have come to uni had fees been any higher. you just cant justify it when there's no guaruntees at the end of the course.
Amazing kirsty. this stuff makes me sick. i just wrote a log message and lost it but the jist was, i deffinitely wouldnt have come to university had fees been any higher. i just couldnt justify the cost of 5 years' higher tuition when there's no guaruntees at the end of the course. i nearly didn't come as it was for the sake of money, after good A-level grades and a lot of hard work. where exactly would 10k a year from every student go? I doubt very much our architecture department would suddenly see an increase in facilities and start churning out only first grade students.
Some very good points and a grave warning to us all. Kudos on the Lord Henry Wotton quote.
Love this article. As an English student with six contact hours a week, I wonder where my £3000 goes, let alone if that were to go up to £10000. I really enjoyed reading it.
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