With protests going on up and down the country, there is a great deal of anger about the government’s plans for higher education. Almost all of us will be leaving university with some debt, however this debt did not deter us from coming to Imperial in the first place. However a Union survey has shown that Imperial students are just as concerned by debt and rising fees as other students in the U.K. In light of the Union’s support for the Browne Review and the government’s proposals, is it being truly representative of the majority of Imperial students?

Chances are, that during your GCSE’s or A-Level’s, university tuition fees was not a deal breaker in your decision to go to university. However it is something we all think about at some point, whether it is “How will I pay it back?” “Where will the money come from?” “How long will I be paying it back for?” we are all in the same boat. Right now for a three-year course as a home student total tuition fees equal £9,870, if fees increased, a total of almost £30,000 would need to be paid back by the student. For many students, this cost is now an issue in deciding in whether going to university is feasible. In the recent study carried out by Imperial before the Browne Review was released, 9.3% of Imperial students said that they felt they should have no debt on leaving university. 31.3%, the largest proportion, of students felt a debt of £10,000-£20,000 was reasonable. But only 5.3% thought debts above £30,000 would be reasonable. Under the government’s new system, a student on a four-year course at Imperial would likely leave with £36,000 debt. It is therefore clear that although the vast majority of students agree that they should contribute somewhat to the funding of their course (78.9% agreed that they should contribute), they have strong reservations about the amount that they should have to contribute.

Union President Alex Kendall agreed that students “are worried about debt and it’s something that we definitely need to tackle. we need to make an effort to translate the reality to students it’s not the same as a normal debt. it’s not like credit card debt. it’s the cost of a degree and somebody in the end has to pay for it.”

Furthermore students overwhelmingly rejected the idea of removing the caps on tuition fees, i.e. allowing universities to charge whatever they want for degrees. 86.5% of students taking part in the study said they were against the idea of an uncapped funding model which the Browne Review recommended and Imperial College Union supports. A similarly large proportion of students, 78.9%, said they were against the graduate tax idea which is advocated by the N.U.S. and also the Labour leader Ed Miliband. Alex Kendall commented, “The graduate tax model doesn’t link money to universities and doesn’t give the universities an incentive to develop. It is also worse for poorer graduates because you have to start paying it immediately, not at £21,000 like the government’s model.”

When asked whether an increase in fees would discourage them from attending university, two-thirds of students agreed that it would. However the data does not specify what size increase would deter students. Of the third that said that they wouldn’t be discouraged by higher fees in general, 54% still said that they would be discouraged by tuition fees of up to £10,000. President Alex Kendall attempted to re-assure students saying, “the headline fee does include anything about bursaries or the fact that unless you go into a high-paying job, you won’t have to pay back all that you owe.”

It is clear that students are more concerned about the current higher education situation that previously thought. Given that fees at Imperial are almost certainly going to rise to £9,000 if the government’s plans are enacted, the assumption that Imperial students won’t be affected by the changes or don’t care about them is certainly challenged by the findings.