Today the long awaited outcome to the Review of Higher Education Funding, chaired by Lord Browne, has been announced. The review had proposed that fees should rise by £1000 annually from 2013 for several years, leading to students being charged £7,000 a year for courses at the London School of Economics.
LSE Students Union has categorically denounced the outcome and warned against the negative impact that higher tuition fees would have on fair access to higher education. In conjunction with the National Union of Students, the Students’ Union has called on all MPs who disagree with higher fees to vote against any bill that proposes a rise from their current level of £3,290 per year.
Charlotte Gerada, General Secretary of the LSE Students' Union responded, “LSE was founded on principles of equality, social justice and social progression; raising fees would fundamentally undermine these commitments by damaging progression on the very issues LSE’s creators wanted to address. Student access, personal debt and wealth disparity could all be negatively impacted”
Charlie Glyn, Activities and Development Officer of the LSE Students’ Union said “LSE still has a below-average score for Student Satisfaction, and there is no evidence to suggest that this would improve with higher fees.” The Student Union has recently launched a ‘Freeze the Fees’ Campaign in response to potential rise in fees. They are calling on the LSE to use it’s strong financial position to avoid a fee hike.
Hero Austin, Community and Welfare Officer of the LSE Students Union said, “Given LSE’s strong financial position, evidenced by the significant surplus we have had since 2002 and expect to have for years to come, it is not necessary for us to raise fees. We are lucky in this respect, and hope that the School recognises that it can easily act progressively without remotely jeopardising our financial security.”
Ashok Kumar, Education Officer of the LSE Students Unions said, “LSE has the highest annual surplus, receives the second lowest public funding, and has some of the highest international and postgraduate fees anywhere in the UK, it has no excuses and can find no justification for raising fees. Howard Davies, Director of LSE, has continued to cowardly dodge the question of freezing fees put to him by this students’ union. He can rest assured, we will continue to pressure him until he supports our reasonable demand of a freeze on fees for all LSE students”