The average student debt is approaching £25,000 according to the Push Annual Student Survey, as the NUS calls the current system of top-up fees “farcical.”
The Push survey reveals that students who started university last year will graduate with debts of £23,200, representing an increase of 5.4 per cent on the previous year.
The Universities and College Union issued a warning to the government that the current system of burdening students with thousands of pounds of student debt will make university a less attractive proposition in the future.
Sally Hunt, General Secretary of the Universities and College Union said:
“All the polling on the issue points to a general public who will not stomach students being hit with higher costs for a degree through increased fees or a bigger debt rebranded as a graduate tax.”
Meanwhile, the NUS has slammed the current system of top-up fees following the publication of annual figures on university performance by the Office of Fair Access. (OFA)
These reveal that 15 of the richest universities from the Russell Group and 1994 Group spend less than 20 per cent of the extra money gained by charging the maximum fees on bursaries and scholarships for disadvantaged students.
NUS president Aaron Porter said:
“The regulation that surrounds the charging of top up fees is farcical and has allowed greedy university heads with the worst record on access to ask for huge student contributions, who then spend less on outreach than those with a better record at getting poorer students onto their courses.”
According to the NUS, the Russell Group of Universities does not have a good record of recruiting students from poorer backgrounds and should therefore be re-investing more on bursaries and scholarships, not less than newer universities with a better record.
Porter added that bursaries and scholarships should “be based on student need” and not the need of the institution.
