Cuts and rise in fees to have a knock on effect in Universities

People wanting to attend University in the future will be hit hard as the new coalition government looks set to raise the tuition fee amount; Liverpool City Council heard today.

 These three words, ‘Education, Education, Education,’ were primarily the reason why the Labour government go back into power in 1997 as then labour leader Tony Blair promised to make education their number one priority. Before the coalition government formed earlier this year, leader of the liberal democrats Nick Clegg promised to scrap tuition fees and now, after joining forces with David Cameron and the Conservatives, has gone against his words as the government look set to raise the amount people will have to pay if they want to further their education.

Now the fees looked set to be raised from £3000 a year to £9000; without the essential living cost most students need to take out. This will affect the working class families who cannot afford to pay over £9000 pound a year for their child to further their education. With riots happening up and down the country, particularly in the capital city, students are outraged that Nick Clegg has done this sensational u-turn, after giving him their backing during his campaign.

In  a Liverpool City Council meeting, where discussions were taking place about the tuition fees, public sector cuts and the effect they will all have on the city, council leader Warren Bradley stated that the council are against the rise in tuition fees and that they should be abolished at the earliest opportunity.

Outside, there were several demonstrations taking place about the rise in fee and the public sector cuts. Councillor Steve Radford who is part of the liberal party, is against what Nick Clegg has done by joining forces with the conservatives and going against everything his part believes in. ‘We at the liberal party have been emailing every single Lib Dem Councillor, every single Lib Dem MP and every single Lib Dem member saying you’re doing everything you said you would do at the election you should not support this. This is why today, were quite pleased to join people with totally different political traditions in saying, this is wrong’.

Local universities are set to be hit hard too, as Councilors Gary Millar and Paul Twigger announced at the city council meeting. Due to lack of funds given to them, Liverpool John Moores University will not be able to give their students bursaries. They went on to say that it’s time to examine the local methods of allocating bursaries to reflect the change in students across the UK.

The ratio for people wanting to attend universities will be affected too, with 1 in 3 set to miss out on a place at University. Steve Radford said it is an important time for students and we should be trying to win them over. ‘We cannot afford to alienate students as they are an important part of our economy. If Britain is to be run like a business then, due to the deficit in our economy, we need an educated work force and this is why the cuts are bad for students, universities and bad for Britain.’’