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Fees Petition Hits 250 Mark

Oct 22 2002 15:38

Stuart Davis

Live's petition against top-up fees already has more than 250 signatures.

The protest isn't over yet ...

After just three days, Live's online petition against top-up fees at Imperial has amassed 250 electronic signatures and the number is still increasing.

Signatures have flooded in from students (both undergrads and postgrads), their parents, alumni and staff. There have been responses from the University of Bath, the University of Southampton, Manchester University and Queen Mary's, London.

The comments left on the petition reveal the extent of people's disappointment and anger at the Rector's plans. Choice examples include:

'Top-up fees are a morally bankrupt solution to a government that has failed to address the issue of higher education funding in a coherent manner.'

'However top-up fees work, they will serve to discourage students from attending Imperial.'

'I can't believe that the proposal put forward can seriously be called 'fair' or 'justified' or that it will result in an improvement to the standards or reputation of ...Imperial College. There are just too many reasons why this is a bad idea.'

'Imperial College is a centre for academic excellence, not a toy for the accountants to play with.'

'Education [should be] based on the ability to think, not the ability to pay.'

'As if things aren't already tough enough for students. We exist on the edge financially, and many of us genuinely have no "mummy and daddy" to bail us out if we get into a tight spot ... It is not our fault, nor should it be our problem if the books don't balance at the end of the day.'

'I seriously urge College to explore all avenues for funding. It would be a disaster to close doors to the middle ground who are not eligible for funding but unable to afford fees.'

'Perhaps retroactively charging Sir Richard the £40,000 he values a good degree at would be a good idea.'

You can sign the petition online by following this link.

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Discussion about “Fees Petition Hits 250 Mark”

The comments below are unmoderated submissions by Live! readers. The Editor accepts no liability for their content, nor for any offence caused by them. Any complaints should be directed to the Editor.

1. C!

Oct 23 2002 09:28

401 as of now

2. Stefanos Dris

Oct 23 2002 15:16

People are also forgetting about how expensive London is compared to the rest of the country. I never even applied to Imperial for undergrad because I knew I couldn't afford living in London for 3 or 4 years. It is beyond doubt one of the least student-friendly cities in the world (let alone the UK). I think I spent more money in 1 year at IC than I did in 3 years at UMIST... Imagine having to pay 15k on top of that?

3. Sunil

Oct 23 2002 23:43

Balls. You'd only have to pay however many k if your parents could afford it, as Sykes will hasten to assure and reassure you and prospective students till he's blue in the face. If you're poor, you pay nothing.

Funnily enough, I happen to believe that he's reasonably sincere about that - at least for the time being. Your mileage may vary.

4. idris

Oct 24 2002 13:23

Sunil. Don't stoop to insults: it doesn't do your case any good. I happen to think that you are missing the point. Education, like healthcare and a couple of other things, should be delivered at a quality independent of a person's wealth and ideally, any other discriminating factors. The only reliable way to achieve this is to have it free at the point of delivery, funded via universal progressive taxation, which can easily be tailored to the individual's ability to pay at national level. Even if you reject the concept of universal free provision, you must accept that to have college determine who gets support and who doesn't (as under the current proposal) is open to corruption and other forms of abuse (say, based on favoured schools, or people with the surname Sykes).

5. Mustafa Arif

Oct 24 2002 17:28

Idris, you clearly don't know sunil well enough.

Sunil is not in favour of top-up fees. (Indeed he has signed that petition.)

However, Sunil is very, erm... how can I put it... "thorough". He will always knock down a weak argument - even when that argument has been concocted to support something that he agrees with.

In short, don't get wound up :-)

6. Stefanos Dris

Oct 24 2002 21:55

So presumably, since the average wage in Greece is a lot lower than in the UK, most Greek students will have their fees paid (they will be poor by UK standards).

Closed This discussion is closed.