A Level Students face University Entry Chaos
November 18, 2004 5:59 PM
Richard Allanach talking with Warwick University students
Students at Warwick University were warned this week that their younger brothers and sisters who had just started their A-levels face chaos in the 2006 university entry round.
The Liberal Democrats' parliamentary spokesman for Rugby & Kenilworth, Richard Allanach, told students meeting in the university's graduate centre that young people thinking of starting university in 2006 face an uncertain financial future.
"They will not know whether or not they will be paying fees until after the next general election" Mr Allanach said. "If Labour hang on to power they will be paying top-up fees, if the Liberal Democrats win then there will be no fees. The Conservatives' plans are unclear but appear to have a 'buy now, pay later' element with the abolition of tuition fees now but students paying higher interest rates on their maintenance loans after university."
"If Labour win students may need to use their degree skills to sort out their finances" Mr Allanach continued. "Almost everyone agrees that fees will not be 'variable' as Labour claim but instead we will have a new standard fee of £3,000 per annum. But this is where the problems begin. Even Labour's new Director of Fair Access, Sir Martin Harris, admits that there will chaotic competing bursary schemes. We could well see twins with the same home backgrounds having very different levels of support at university -the first studying chemistry at one university might be given a grant of £2,000 a year and another studying law at university twenty miles down the road could end up with a bursary of only £300 a year."
Mr Allanach explained that the Liberal Democrats would use the money raised by a new higher rate of tax on incomes over £100,000 per annum to fund their proposals for higher education.
"Tuition fees are a major concern for students here," said Julian Friedman, President of the Warwick University Liberal Democrats.
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