NUS APL: Why HE is so Unfair

Myself, Tom (VPEA), Oggy (VPHC) and Sparky (VPS) attended NUS Active Political leadership (APL) training this week.

Throughout the course we watched many presentations, but the one that touched me the most was "Why Higher Education is so unfair" delivered by a member of NUS staff. The figures that I am about to mention are just a few examples and really highlight how far we have to go to achieve true equality with regard to the accessibility of our institutions.

Students under the top up fee system if the cap is lifted, will be facing roughly £9k a year debt, which will add up to £27k by the time they graduate.

Graduates with a degree in arts will earn, on average £34,104 p/a. This on initial reflection appears to be substantial. However, graduates with arts degrees will only earn an extra £8k in a life time, once their student debt is paid off, than students with 2 A Level qualifications.

This is what we refer to as graduate premium. The graduate premium for a degree in arts therefore is low. Statistics suggest, however that graduate premium is significantly higher in courses with the lowest growth levels.

50% of students from independent schools continue their education in Russell Group universities, where as only 10% of students from FE colleges do the same.

Ethnic Minority Students are massively underrepresented in the Russell Group, with Black Carribean students only constituting 7% of the student bodies. In fact, there are more Black students at London Metropolitan University than in all of the Russell Group Universities combined.

One of the biggest problems for students are additional costs. Accomodation is a key barrier to education, with high costs meaning that many students are forced to study at home, or are put off from entering higher education all together.

The above are just some of arguments presented to us.
The presentation really rang true how far we have to go to ensure that higher education is available and accessible to anybody who has the ability.