An uncertain future

With a new political coalition being revealed between the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats, it has left a lot of uncertainty as to which manifestos will be favored.

The majority of students are now wondering what changes will be made to their education and student loans.

Prime Minister, David Cameron’s policies insist that there will be more university places made available, and not only for those who can afford it. He wants to make sure that
“Students get a fair deal, disadvantaged young people don’t miss out and researchers get the funding they need.”

That’s all well and good, but surely some of his ideas will be compromised to make way for the Liberal Democrat policies.

However, the Lib Dems have taken a similar stance wanting to scrap university fees and make the option of higher education available to everyone.

But with such a huge economic deficit something inevitably will be compromised, whether it is future university funding or higher taxes.

Student Finance England are adamant that the changes made to government will not affect students applying for loans for the year 2010/2011. For those applying for university next year, the changes may be more obvious.

Yesterday, an open letter was sent to the Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg asking for the new Government to make clear their ideas on University education. Clegg who signed a NUS pledge to make sure that student debt is drastically reduced, is now being forced to follow through with his promise after he won the votes of many University students during his visit to Cambridge.

It seems that with the government being in such an awkward situation the next few days will be critical in deciding the future of university funding.


The Conservative policies regarding university education are:

http://www.conservatives.com/Default.aspx

o Provide 10,000 extra university places in 2010;
o Introduce an early repayment bonus on student loans, which are repaid ahead of schedule;
o Work to improve the way that universities are funded so that students get a fair deal, disadvantaged young people don’t miss out and researchers get the funding they need;
o Provide people with much better information about the true costs and benefits of going to university and help people choose the course and institution, which is right for them;
o Create an extra 100,000 apprenticeships and pre-apprenticeships each year;
o Give small and medium businesses a £2,000 bonus for every new apprentice they hire, and make it much easier for firms to run apprenticeships;
o Provide an extra 100,000 college places over two years so unemployed young people can improve their skills;
o Provide 100,000 new ‘work pairings’ over two years so unemployed young people can get meaningful work experience and mentoring from businesspeople;
o Offer much better careers advice, including providing expert advice in every secondary school and college and setting up a new careers service for adults.
o Establish a Community Learning Fund to help adults who want to learn new skills or restart their careers;
o Abolish many of the further education quangos which Labour have created, and cut bureaucracy and inspections in colleges so teaching staff can spend less time in the office and more time in the classroom;
o Delay the implementation of the new funding system for universities – the Research Excellence Framework – and work with academics to ensure that there is a robust and acceptable way of measuring the impact of all research.


The Liberal Democrat’s policies regarding university education are:

http://www.libdems.org.uk/home.aspx

o Scrap fees for final year full-time students.
o Part time fees become regulated and fee loans become available to part time students.
o Expand free tuition to all full-time students apart from first year undergraduates.
o Expand free tuition to all part-time students apart from first year undergraduates.
o Scrap tuition fees for all first-degree students.


Melissa Green