Student loan GCSE barriers are classist and ableist | Rhiannon Muise
Monday 28-02-2022 - 14:37
The cost of living is rising, the student loan repayment threshold is decreasing, and it’s becoming more and more difficult to get your hands on a student loan. I am angry, and as university students you should be too. What’s going on?
For students starting courses in the next academic year, student loans are to be paid back in forty years instead of thirty. The Department of Education claimed the changes would “rebalance the burden of student loans more fairly between the student and the taxpayer and ensure that in future graduates don’t pay back more than they borrowed in real terms”. This may rebalance the burden, but a burden is a burden.
Larissa Kennedy, President of the National Union of Students, put it best: “The minister is saddling young people with unimaginable debt for the next 40 years of their lives. This is nothing more than an attack on opportunity.” I agree wholeheartedly. Not only is the Department of Education creating a lifelong graduate tax for us, but it is also ripping opportunity from peoples’ grasps.
Elsewhere, it is now becoming more difficult to apply for student loans if you don’t have a GCSE in Maths or English. Personally, I struggled immensely with Maths at school. I repeated my Maths GCSE many times, received private tuition from multiple tutors, but no one could help. I was passed through Maths classes more times than I can count.
However, I am creatively intelligent. I’m deeply passionate about performing arts and have a talent for performing. Pursuing my career in performing arts, or even being your FAS Student Engagement Officer, wouldn’t be possible if I didn’t study a degree, even if it is considered a mickey mouse degree. It greatly angers me that a student with great potential, a passion, and a dream won’t be able to receive a student loan if they don’t receive a GCSE qualification in Maths or English.
As the general rising costs of student living continues to rise, providing free education for young adults and cutting down the costs whilst we’re at university would be much more helpful these new policies – which are attacks on the working class, the creatives, people struggling with dyslexia and dyscalculia, and many more.
Finance needs to be the main concern.
If you’re keeping up to date with the Students’ Union recent campaigns, you may be aware of the campaign exploring the Hidden Costs of higher education. Previously, I launched a survey providing the opportunity for students to discuss costs they weren’t aware of before starting their university experience.
During my time at university, I paid for many items that were necessary to my studies: textbooks, cameras, tripods and more. I studied a joint honours degree in Dance & Drama, and I completed my final year in the pandemic, meaning I had to record my assessment performances from home. I was unaware of the burden this would have on my finances.
Using Edge Hill University’s website in its current form, it is difficult to find what extra costs are applicable to each course. It’s also difficult to understand what is necessary and what isn’t. Under the “Finance” section of the Drama course prospectus, for example, there is no mention of extra costs that students might have to shell out for.
I started this campaign because I feel it is only fair to be able to make an informed decision before enrolling at university -- not only Edge Hill but at any university. Finance is a huge concern amongst university students. Institutes being transparent about course costs will ultimately help students make informed decisions. In my own experience, I have seen one too many students go home before finishing their degrees because money has run out or can’t continue due to financial mix ups.
My end goal will be for the University to share up-to-date estimated course costs (calculated at course level and not as a university or faculty-wide average), prominently displayed on each course page under the “Finance” tab (not, as present, buried within the website). Stay tuned for more information on this campaign.
To conclude, I’m aware I’ve made numerous points and my tone is probably coming across as a rant. I reiterate, I am angry, and as university students you should be too. Students deserve dignity, and students shouldn’t have to get themselves into more debt as the costs of university rises.
Below are some constructive you can take to make your voice heard about the government’s new student loan laws.
- Contact your local MP.
- Start a petition and inform others and make your voice heard.
- Sign the NUS (National Union of Students) has released a petition to prevent the government pinning this attack on students’ not receiving a pass in GCSE English and Maths or 2Es at A-Level from attending university.
Relevant articles to read if you want to educate yourself further on the issue
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/student-loan-changes-5-ways-26313621
Rhiannon (Student Engagement Officer for FAS) (She/Her)
