Response to DMU announcing £9,000 fees

This week, De Montfort University joined the likes of Cambridge and Warwick in moving to charge the maximum fee of £9000 from 2012. This is a huge blow to the vision of a socially mobile society and suggests that universities are again becoming the bastions of an old elitism. Gifted students from an average background will, no doubt, be put off by the thought of graduating with up to £37000 of debt hanging over them.

It is important that we understand who is to blame: It is not, as it may be assumed, DMU’s fault that fees have been raised so dramatically. Funding has been almost completely withdrawn by government, and so the vast majority of the extra money is replacing funding previously given by government. To this end, the only people who can be blamed are those in government. This rise in costs, and the inevitable effect this will have on social mobility, is on the coalition’s hands alone. The Liberal Democrats and Conservatives will castigate this statement and argue that it was Labour who introduced fees in the first place.  That is, of course, correct; however, the fees introduced in 2002 were to give universities more money, and not to replace state spending. This is crucial because it means students spending £9000 in fees won’t actually get any better a service than they have now.

There is also another troubling issue to highlight. Last November, many of our fellow students, DMU Labour members and friends marched through London to voice our protest at this absurd proposal. At the time we were promised that fees of £9000 would be the exception and certainly not the rule. We were promised that most universities would charge £7500 or less, and if they wanted to charge more, would have to put a lot of effort into justifying why. This has not turned out to be true. Most universities who have made the announcement have opted for £9000 fees. Either students were lied to, or the government is guilty of complete incompetence. Which statement is true is for you to deice.
Whilst individual universities have to make a decision as to how much they charge, we should not lose sight of the fact that they have been put in this position by a government that has forsaken social mobility and the right to aim for a better life. We at DMU Labour Club know who to blame for our fee increases and he sits at the cabinet Table.

Rob Jackson, Chair of DMU Labour Club.