Thursday, December 09, 2010
Oops! Now the National Union of Students are in a mess on fees
This morning's Daily Telegraph contains the startling allegations that NUS UK, the student body that has led the protests on behalf of the Labour Party against the Coalition Government's fees policy, are themselves deep in the mire in undermining the interest of students.
They say that leaked e-mails reveal that the National Union of Students secretly urged the Coalition to make deep cuts in student grants and charge market rates of interest on student loans as an alternative to raising tuition fees:
In private talks in October, the NUS tried to persuade ministers at the Department for Business to enact their planned 15 per cent cut in higher education funding without lifting the cap on fees.
In one email to the department’s officials, dated Oct 1, Mr Porter suggested that £800 million should be “deducted from the grants pot” over four years. That would cut total spending on grants by 61 per cent. Mr Porter also proposed the “introduction of a real rate of interest” for student loans.
In an email the following day, Graeme Wise, an NUS political officer, suggested that ministers seeking cuts should start with the “student support” package of grants and loans.
He wrote: “It would be better in our view to first mitigate the cuts to provision by seeing how student support can be better focused at lower cost.” Mr Wise also suggested that the cuts in support could be imposed on students currently at university.
The NUS plans also called for £2.4 billion to be cut from the universities’ teaching budget over four years, a reduction of 48 per cent.
These revelations really undermines the NUS's credibility both with students and the general public.
They say that leaked e-mails reveal that the National Union of Students secretly urged the Coalition to make deep cuts in student grants and charge market rates of interest on student loans as an alternative to raising tuition fees:
In private talks in October, the NUS tried to persuade ministers at the Department for Business to enact their planned 15 per cent cut in higher education funding without lifting the cap on fees.
In one email to the department’s officials, dated Oct 1, Mr Porter suggested that £800 million should be “deducted from the grants pot” over four years. That would cut total spending on grants by 61 per cent. Mr Porter also proposed the “introduction of a real rate of interest” for student loans.
In an email the following day, Graeme Wise, an NUS political officer, suggested that ministers seeking cuts should start with the “student support” package of grants and loans.
He wrote: “It would be better in our view to first mitigate the cuts to provision by seeing how student support can be better focused at lower cost.” Mr Wise also suggested that the cuts in support could be imposed on students currently at university.
The NUS plans also called for £2.4 billion to be cut from the universities’ teaching budget over four years, a reduction of 48 per cent.
These revelations really undermines the NUS's credibility both with students and the general public.
