Next Wednesday we will march in London with students from across the UK with a simple message for the UK government – don’t cut higher education, fund it and don’t lift the cap on tuition fees for undergraduates.
But the reality for postgraduate students is that they are already paying £7,000 and have no student loan to help them live. Fees for postgraduates are unregulated which means that university’s can charge whatever they like for a course.
I blogged yesterday on the report and you can read the full extend of the problem in the Broke and Broken report here- http://www.nus-connect.org/asset/news/6084/Broke-and-Broken-PGT.pdf
But today I thought I would start taking some affirmative action. I have written a letter which I intend to send to the education spokespeople of Plaid Cymru, Labour, Liberal Democrat and the Conservative Party in Wales.
Despite NUS UK putting forward a robust and proven argument that postgraduate study needs full funding and finance Lord Browne, the person carrying out the UK government review of higher education, said that there should be no change.
Well in Wales we have the option to say that’s not good enough. I have written a letter that I will send to all the education spokespeople and indeed the education minister for the Welsh government urging them to look at whether we can create a Welsh way of funding postgraduate study.
The NUS urged Lord Browne to fund postgraduate study through ‘a system of low-cost loans’. Whereas there is no appetite for that in the Con-Dem government, I hope that in Wales our different priorities would allow us to at least look at that.
Letter in full
I am writing to you as your party’s spokesperson for education regarding taught postgraduate student funding.
The National Union of Students UK recently published their report on taught postgraduate student funding and finance titled ‘Broke and Broken’. As you may know postgraduate fees are unregulated and there is no system of funding for postgraduate students. Unsurprisingly the Broke and Broken report showed that the current funding and fees arrangements is a major barrier to access and an emotional and physical burden for those already studying.
Two thirds (66.9%) of respondents said their postgraduate study was entirely self-funded. It is of great concern to me that 17.7 of full-time respondents said they were funding postgraduate study at least in part through a credit card or overdraft.
The human face of these statistics is shown in some of the text comments students made. One student said: “Living on £50-60 a month did help me lose weight, but still it would be an experience I would like to be without.” Another said: “The tuition fees are paid for – I would not be able to do the course at all if they weren’t, however I live on the breadline now.”
These cases of postgraduate students struggling to make ends meet are unfortunately every day cases. You would be more than welcome to come Swansea University and meet postgraduate students struggling to make ends meet.
The average tuition fee respondents studying full-time paid was £7,007.73. In addition to this, taught postgraduate students face large hidden course costs. These are costs that the University rarely tells students they will incur before they begin studying and on average the respondents incurred £55.94 travel costs a month.
In light of this evidence I am staggered that Lord Browne’s review recommended that no change to postgraduate support systems is needed. I’m sure you will agree that after reading the report that the current funding arrangements are socially unjust and need to be addressed.
In Wales we have the ability to implement a fairer funding system for taught postgraduate students. I would ask that you call on the Welsh government to assess the feasibility of implementing a system of low-cost loans for Welsh domicile students making taught postgraduate study free at the point of entry.
Yours sincerely,
Luke James
Education Officer
Swansea University Students’ Union
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