third level fees

by OK - SP/CWI Thu Apr 17, 2003 19:36

On 3 April 2003, Lisbon saw a 1000-strong demo of university students from all over Portugal, protesting against the most recently announced increase in student tuition fees. The protest blocked traffic completely in some of the most used inner city streets.

Due to the right-wing nature of some student unions, and their shameful boycott of the protest, only 1000 students assembled and paraded through the city on the 6.5 km march.

The protest was extremely lively with students ignoring police provocations but singing and shouting slogans all the way.

by Worker Thu Apr 17, 2003 19:57

we had to work to pay our fees, feed ourselves and get ratarsed and still managed to pass our exams (and my father was a low paid worker) now they are looking for child care in colleges, ha the only child care you need are condoms.

by Old Git Thu Apr 17, 2003 20:39

Back in my day...
we had to put our coat on to go to the toilet...
we left school when we were 14 and wer glad we could read and write....
If we got beaten by the christian brothers we were glad of it 'cause we deserved it...
we had to go to bed at 8 because we had no money for dinner....
we had to brush our teeth with salt...
only the elite and the privilaged went to college...
we had to pay fees....

by A student Fri Apr 18, 2003 13:04

Fuck sake, we all know what that means. He's gonna bring back fees without introducing any systems that will allow students to cope with the extra burden.
By that i mean thee won't be any cohesive national student loan scheme, instead it will be left for the blood sucking commercial banks to sell loans to the desperate students.

If there is one thing that can be counted on it is that the government will screw up badly and absolutely nobody will be satisfied. While they can't satisfy everyone all of the time, they're very capable of pissing everybody off whenever they get an opportunity.

I would actually be in favour of fees being re-introduced if it meant that there would be a loan scheme that could not only cover fees, but also living expenses so that we wouldn't have to work during the college year. I would only be in favour of such a loan scheme if the repayments were contingent on reaching a certain (reasonable) wage level after leaving college.

I think such a system would be fair for everyone and it would actually benefit the working classes for a change

by interested Fri Apr 18, 2003 13:21

Students should lay off dempsey he is the only one in the government willing to do anything to anything to widen access. And he's willing to do something thats not politically sound because he believes the system is'nt right at the moment. Doesn't it worry people when the PDs have come out against this, I don't fell any further proof is needed (they hardly have the interests of disadvantaged students at heart). Besides Dempsey has said he won't cherrypick the report and will implement it in full at the same time.

by Noel Hogan - USI Fri Apr 18, 2003 18:57

You must be joking!

So far Dempsey has done nothing but mouth off on access. He says he wants to use the money from fees to improve access.

Why so he raise the so-called "registration fee" by 69% and the grant hardly at all?

The man is a spinner and deciever.

by Gaz - cfe - campaign for free education Fri Apr 18, 2003 19:41

"Students should lay off dempsey he is the only one in the government willing to do anything to anything to widen access. "

This is totally untrue. The department of education conducted a report in May of 2001 on how to widen access to education which is currently gathering dust in Dempseys office. In its findings it did not believe in re-introducing fees and hardly any of its 70 plus recommendations have been implemented. Instead Dempsey has chosen to ignore the recommendations and conduct a new report. This report is merely an excuse to bring back fees, the money from which will go the the exchequer and not the colleges. 63% of the recent increase in registration fees has already gone to the exchequer.

" I would actually be in favour of fees being re-introduced if it meant that there would be a loan scheme."

The deferred loan scheme for fees in Australia has been shown to be flawed on every level. The statistics speak for themselves. 1 in 3 Australian women will still be in debt at the age of 65, with 15-25% of people never finishing paying off their debt. This system has been used to reduce higher education expenditure, and State funding fell dramatically from about 62% of total university revenue in 1996 to 48% today.

A recent Australian study carried out by the found that people with loan debts were less likely to buy houses, take out loans and have children because they were not willing to take on more debt, such a move here would cause massive social problems. Loan systems have proven to be very expensive currently in Australia there is a national student debt of $8.7 billion (set to rise to $11.4 billion in 2004). The idea of a debt for life, the uncertainty of a better life after a degree, the very ingrained nature of financial disadvantage have all meant that most poorer people either choose to forgo university or simply cannot afford the debt.

The introduction of such a system here would be catastrophic for not just students, but the future state of our already fragile economy.

As the Irish government strives to move closer to the introduction of a fee based education system, one of its primary tactics is the dressing up of its endeavours in the language of social inclusion.The government is lying when it talks about wanting to widen access to third level education.

The national Education Welfare board was set up last July under the Education ( Welfare Act), 2000 and was given the responsibility for school attendance matters throughout the country. Repeated truancy is a direct route to an exit from education at an early age yet the government has cut its allocation from E13 million to E3.2 million. The Department of Social and Family Affairs decision to discontinue summer payment of the Back to Education Allowance (BTEA) also demonstrates the governments unwillingness to really tackle the issue of education disadvantage. The BTEA was set up to help the long-term unemployed and people from disadvantaged groups to enter third level education. Students in receipt of Disability Allowance, Blind Persons Pension and Invalidity Pension who may qualify for the BTEA will also be hit. These students, who have been brave enough to re-enter formal education to further their employment prospects have been betrayed again by a Government more interested in balance sheets than in the welfare of the people it is supposed to represent.

Contrary to the false representation of the government, fees do not represent a simple panacea which will eliminate educational inequality. They believe this because they perceive inequality to only exist in access to third level and seek a solution in third level through the introduction of fees, which can only exacerbate the problem by erecting further financial barriers to those seeking to make the move to third level. Fees are simply not the sole reason for low levels of people from a lower socio-economic background entering third level education.

Do not for one moment believe that fees will only be introduced for the rich. Tony Blair promised that fees would only be introduced for the rich but eventually the British government re-introduced fees for all students and cancelled the maintenance grant system (which has been re-introduced due to student pressure). The scheme of student loans which has been set up has left students with massive debts and is further damaging access to education in Britain.

The reintroduction of fees, under whatever guise it is presented will not only erode the living standards of students but presents a threat to the very right of access to higher education.

If you are interested in fighting fees click on the link below.

by Noel Hogan Sat Apr 19, 2003 16:30

If you're busy with exams but still want to let your TDs know how you feel, then log onto www.fightfees.com and send an email.