Students face massive burden of debt
November 5, 2003 12:00 AM
By Sarah Teather MP in North West London Newspapers Times/Chronicle Series
By Sarah Teather MP in North West London Newspapers Times/Chronicle Series
Sarah Teather MP
As the youngest MP, I am almost certainly the only Member of Parliament who is still paying off her student loan. But I am also aware that I am very lucky. I went to Cambridge in 1993. Because my family's income was relatively low, I received a full maintenance grant to help with living costs. The grant wasn't very much (it didn't cover my accommodation costs), but it helped, and at least I didn't have to pay tuition fees.
The Tories froze the maintenance grant awarded to students from lower income families during the 1980s and introduced student loans to make up the difference. When Labour came to power in 1997, they scrapped the grant altogether and brought in tuition fees. Labour now look set to break the promise they made to the British people in their 2001 manifesto and introduce yet another charge for education - top up fees - against the wishes of parents, students and universities.
If these plans for top up fees go ahead, it is estimated that students now beginning to study for the A-levels could face the prospect of leaving with £33,000 worth of debt by the time they graduate at the end of this decade.
£33,000 worth if debt is a staggering figure and I think we should try to get it into perspective. OK, so it won't buy you a garage in Brent East, but in most places across the country, it is a standard mortgage. No parent wants to see their child saddled with that kind of debt before they have even started thinking about finding a home or starting a family.
But this isn't just about debt, it is also about fear of debt. All of the evidence suggests that those from the poorest families are the ones who are most likely to decide that the benefits of education are not worth the cost. And many Muslim families, where cultural attitudes to debt differ may also find the cost unbearable. Why if the Government is really serious about widening participation in education does it introduce policies that discourage the very people we are trying to attract?
Tuition fees and now top-up fees place a massive burden of debt on young people's lives.
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