Day of action reveals student debt at UCLan

In the Red campaign wakes students up to how much they will owe when graduating

Students with Lee Bradshaw, campaigns officer, voting for a review into the higher education funding system

UCLan students have revealed the shocking level of debt they will have on their shoulders when they graduate.

 

The Students in the Red campaign, run by UCLan Students’ Union, found that on average students were graduating with a debt of £18,791.

 

Over 100 students registered their amount of graduating debt on the Union’s ‘wall of debt’ with £36,000 the highest figure.

 

Campaigns officer, Lee Bradshaw, said: “The amount of debt is shocking. There’s big differences between the amounts we’re seeing put on the wall, as some people have done previous degrees, have done masters and there’s a whole range of different circumstances.

 

“Talking to students they are concerned about the potential for raising the top-up fees to £5,000, or possibly more, as these numbers will just continue to rise and the graduate premium (the amount that graduates can expect to earn more than someone with two A-Levels) will be reduced.”

 
Liz Clarke, studying a masters in human resources, expects to leave university with a debt of around £25,000. She studied for three years as an undergraduate before starting a masters.

 

She said: “I’ve never really thought about the amount of debt before. I’m paying £4,900 for my masters course and I feel I need to do it to get a better paid job.”

 

How you can get involved Write to your local MP: Download a letter calling for a review into the higher education funding system and send it to your MP. Find your local MP. Write to the Minister for Higher Education: Download a letter calling for a review into the higher education funding system and send it to the Minister for Higher Education. Tell us your experiences: Let us know your experiences of being at or getting through university on the current funding system. Are you hard up? Running out of cash? Student loan not covering the outgoings? Email sucampaigns@uclan.ac.uk Get the knowledge: Have a read of our campaigns section to get the background on the higher education funding debate. Includes interactive timeline and video from NUS President.

Rory Critchley, a second year English & theatre studies student, who will owe £29,700, said: “I’m gutted. I had no idea I was going to owe that much. I don’t know how I’m going to be able to pay it all back.”

 

The Union has also been asking students to vote for a petition to be started to lobby the government to review higher education funding and in particular the current bursary scheme.

 

“The current bursary scheme is very unfair,” says Lee Bradshaw, “and speaking to students today a lot of them had no idea how unfavourable the scheme is to students at universities like UCLan.

 

“The way the scheme is set up at the moment means that all universities get the same amount of money from the government for bursaries and then it’s divided between how many students qualify for it.

 

“This means that at universities where there are less students from a lower socio-economic background, like Oxford, they will get more of the bursary money, while at universities like UCLan students will get a smaller cut of the bursary money.”

 

Postgraduate student Liz Clarke will graduate with debts of approximately £25,000

 

The campaign’s day of action culminated at the Preston Grasshoppers Rugby Club where the Union burnt a giant cheque with the estimated total of student debt in the UK - £260 million.

 

President Gavin Jones said: “It’s been unbelievable today seeing the amount of debt that some students are leaving university with.

 

“When I came to university I was paying the old fees of £1,150 a year and I thought the education I got was suitable of that. However, with the new fees I don’t think we’ve seen that standard rise to match the amount students are paying.

 

“If the fees had been £3,000 a year when I was looking at coming to university, I don’t think I would have applied.”

06 November 2008