Students at APU, Anglia Polytechnic University, which has campuses in Chelmsford and Cambridge, are being rallied to write to their MPs in a week-long an anti-top up fees campaign being run by their students union.
Ross Tucker, president of APU's student union, is spearheading the campaign to lobby and protest against the proposed fees.
He says the Government is reneging on a promise made in 2001 when they said they would not introduce top up fees.
The result of this turn around in policy, he added, could result in universities like APU, where a large number of students are drawn from lower socio-economic backgrounds, having to dig into its funds rather than having more money for research and progress.
He said APU will be forced to offer the best bursary schemes to continue to encourage this group into higher education but, being cash strapped like most universities, will be forced to use any money made from top up fees to fund the bursaries.
"The fact of the matter is still that the proposed £3,000 fee does not solve the funding crisis in higher education," he said.
"It is appalling that Charles Clarke, an ex-NUS president, is insistent on tripling debt three fold. I am disgusted that a Labour Government is attempting to enforce a market driven education system where future students will determine which course they choose and which university they attend, not on ability but their ability to pay fees."
Published Wednesday January 14, 2004
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