By Joe Rukin
After years of waiting, the national press finally noticed an NUS Demonstration when on the 4th of December thousands of students marched through the capital. And at least on the surface, for once one it appeared effective as even before all the soaked students had made it to mud-filled Kennington Park, Tony Blair said at Prime Ministers Questions that the new student finance system "will not mean that parents will have to pay thousands of pounds up front in fees"
Constant rain meant students didn't get to find out if as promised by Chris Weavers the placards said no to top-up fees, no to the graduate tax and a return to grants as they had turned into a papier-mâché mush. Also due to the rain for once the demo set off on time. This surprised many, especially students still in coaches on Park Road after gridlock due to a bomb scare near Madame Tussards.
Normally when it comes to counting the number at a demo NUS will add a bit and double, whilst the Police will half. This theory held out as NUS claimed 23,000 turned out whilst the Police said 5,000. The real figure would be closer to the 10,000 mark. The demo was clearly smaller than that before it left Malet Street, but the traffic problems saw many latecomers, including Swansea whose coaches met up halfway through the march. One section of the population that came out in far more force than usual was the press as it had become clear that student finance was going to be the hot issue of the day. It would be nice to think this success was down to the leadership of NUS doing their job for once, but with the media spotlight already putting tuition fees high in the public attention, it was luckily inevitable.
Maybe to show the press still weren't interested in the NUS leaders, Oxford University Students Union president Will Straw had been picked up by the media as the lead spokesperson on the students behalf. No sign of Euan though- why worry about more fees while your sat in a £250,000 flat?
Accompanied by the brass band from the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, the message left by the remaining banners was clear. As Usual, LSE gave the economists point of view with their "An investment in education is an investment in the future" and "Drop fees not bombs" banners, Churchill College had the famous Winston V-Sign picture with "The Greatest Briton says NO!", and Cambridge had "Not Fees-Able". Also as usual, and despite the rain, the sit-in occupation came on Waterloo Bridge, but it was bigger and longer than usual and it made it clear that reports of the arrest of Helen Salmon -who was watched throughout the demo by two police officers- were totally unfounded.
However the message from NUS leadership was that the whole demo was just about top-up fees and grant reintroduction, with the official line clearly not against graduate tax. President Mandy Telford, speaking at the rally in Kennington Park, said
"There is not long to go until the government decides the fate of higher education. Today we have made a difference in that debate. Labour must honour their pledge not to introduce top up fees. Top-up fees will quite simply cripple our higher education system. With fees at this level it is clear that many people will not be able to afford university in the future. While the top-up fee debate continues we must not forget that the cost of being a student already prohibits many people from going to university. The Government says it wants to be able to compete on a global scale, yet it is willing to price thousands of our most talented students out of education. To truly compete on a global scale, we need the brightest, not just the richest, to enter university. UK students are demonstrating in London today because they do not want to live in a society where access to education is based on wealth."
So as if by magic by the time the demo was over we had won and Blair had backed down. But that just depends who you listen to. When he made his answer in the commons, NATFHE saw that university funding through progressive taxation had been hinted, with General Secretary, Paul Mackney saying;
" I have looked at the Prime Minister's words very carefully, and it is possible that having come to terms with the unpopularity of top-up fees he is now reconsidering some role for general taxation in the eventual funding formula. Progressive taxation remains the simplest, fairest and most efficient means of raising the necessary funds. Deferred fees would still be a major deterrent and students should not carry the full burden of the extra funding."
NUS saw his words as ruling out top-up fees, but three days later the Independent reckoned "Defiant Blair will press ahead with top-up fees". They said that when Blair said that "the plan published next month will not mean that parents will have to pay thousands of pounds up front in fees." he didn't mean no top-up fees, he meant top-up fees AND Graduate Tax- i.e. not upfront fees, but a hell of a lot more money would be delivered for the treasury even with a modest increase in fees as no-one would be exempt, everyone would pay. Charles Clarke made things clearer;
"We have shifted quite significantly, towards the amount that the individual pays being raised after their university course rather than being paid up-front, and I think that shift has taken place. Now, whether you do that through a deferred loans system to a graduate tax or other things is a matter we are still discussing. But I think we have shifted towards a post-university payment rather than a pre-university payment."
"The question which is being discussed is: should individuals pay on their own behalf for the education they receive? To which the answer is yes. There is a material as well as an educational gain from going to university."
Whilst this was happening, Clarke was quietly burying the promise to get 50% of people into higher education by 2010. Well, when we say abandoning it, what we mean is that he has finally admitted that he will broaden the definition to include one-year college courses and home study, with a new target of "getting a higher percentage of working-class students", which with the change in definition should be achieved at a stroke.
But the final word has to go to Will Straw, the media-appointed voice of students, because now like a domino in a line, he is actively campaigning for graduate tax. At the demo he said;
"Students at Oxford feel very strongly that top-up fees would deter people from the lower socio-economic groups from applying. It is clear that students feel absolutely passionately about this and that is why there are so many of them here."
But within a couple of weeks he had made it clear what he thought students want saying in a joint letter from OUSU with co-chair, Helena Puig Larrauri;
"A graduate tax is ... a much more suitable way to ask for an individual contribution as it is based on earnings and not potential earnings or parent's means,"
So what does Will want? Well instead of repaying until a debt is serviced, having an 'individualised debt', he wants a separate tax for graduates which will go on for their whole life. Or does he? See Straw Strikes Back
Funding Special
Top-Up fees via Grad Tax, what a surprise!
Not to say we told you so!
Another 'Huge Victory'- NUS
No Postgrads- coming soon to a uni near you
Participation watchdog to come
Why not GATS?
Mature Students want balanced funding
Straw Strikes Back
NUS National Demo against something....
Step up the offensive
Has NUS acknowledged Graduate Tax?
Demo Pictures
BBC, Endgame in student fees battle?
BBC, Students warm to graduate tax
Oxford Student, War on Fees
Ripple, Demo Report
NUS Online, Demo Coverage
NUS Online, NUS demo a 'resounding success'
NUS Online, Blair rules out upfront top-up fees
NUS Online, Why we marched
Guardian, Thousands join fees demonstration
Guardian, Students face £40,000 university price tag
Guardian, Government changes tack over fees
Guardian, Blair signals retreat on student top-up fees
Guardian, Universities should set their own fees, says report
Guardian, Students take fee protest to London
Independent, Defiant Blair will press ahead with top-up fees
Times, Clarke leaning towards a tax on graduates
Times, Labour shelves plan to get 50% to college
Observer, Morris backs the poor in blast at top-up fees
Herald, No raining on student parade as protest hits streets
Daily Record, Scot leads protest against university top-up fees
This is London, University students should pay, says Clarke
Manchester Online, Blair signals retreat on student top-up fees
