In 2019, the government released the Augar Report, ‘which recommended tuition fees were cut from £9,250 to £7,500’ and made it clear that the government needed to take an active role in making university education accessible for all. Fast-forward to now – two years later – and talks in Whitehall have finally happened are suggesting university fees could be cut from £9,250 to £8,500.
Perhaps to some this seems like a radical change that would have a significant improvement on the lives of students; however, my immediate thoughts did not reflect this. What does a £750 decrease do in terms of digging students out of the mountains of debt they are currently in? ‘A government spokesperson said: “The student loan system is designed to ensure all those with the talent and desire to attend higher education are able to do so, while ensuring that the cost of higher education is fairly distributed between graduates and the taxpayer.” Yet in this climate of absurd education fees, the financial issues faced by working-class students are exacerbated by the fact that they cannot acquire additional family funding support, unlike their middle-class counterparts. In this way, universities remain underpinned by substructures of elitism that favour the rich over the poor and provide unequal access to education.
There was a time when university fees were fully funded by the state, but in the growing capitalist society in which we live, where consumerism is rife and everything possible has been made into something marketable, this is no longer feasible. Universities have metamorphosed into money-making businesses that have no concern for the welfare of their students. Mental health rates have increased by 450% over the last decade, especially due to the pandemic, within the student body and these shocking statistics have not been properly addressed. Furthermore, with the upcoming UCU strikes, where ‘58 universities will be hit with three days of strike action from Wednesday 1 December to Friday 3 December’, things are not looking to get any better.
Unfortunately, these were merely my initial thoughts. It was not until I looked into this further that I realised the real issue at hand. As I mentioned earlier, initially this announcement appears to be an advantage for students, but that is just the tip of the iceberg. What lies underneath is much worse and Lorna Finlayson from The Guardian has outlined this in her article, arguing that the government is not reducing fees in favour of students, but rather to ‘save money’ for themselves. Finlayson raises the important point that whilst the government believe that cutting fees would decrease the marketisation tactics employed by universities, these conglomerates ‘will recoup lost income however they can, most likely through hikes to already eye-watering rents for student accommodation.’ When we add to this the rising rate of inflation – which is currently at 4.2%, ‘its highest rate in almost ten years’ – due to policies introduced by the Conservatives (namely Brexit), there does not seem to be a clear solution to this huge problem.
Yet again, it seems that undergraduates and postgraduates alike are left to bear the brunt of this country’s economic difficulties. Until we return to the public education model of universities, where it truly was a free-for-all model of equality, nothing will change. However, if one thing is certain, there is no way that will be happening any time soon.
See also: Watchdogs say universities should refund students affected by strikes