No to higher tuition fees (Mid Worcestershire Liberal Democrats)

Mid Worcestershire Liberal Democrats <midworcslibdems@worcs.com>

No to higher tuition fees

December 4, 2010 6:11 PM

Liberal Democrats believe university education should be free and everyone who has the ability should be able to go to university. In our manifesto for the 2010 general election stated that we would scrap unfair university tuition fees for all students taking their first degree, including those studying part-time.

During the General Election campaign, many Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Candidates signed a pledge with the National Union of Students that they would vote against any tuition fee rises during the course of the next parliament if they were elected.

In coalition, the Liberal Democrats are looking at proposals to ensure the bottom 30% of graduate earners will pay less for tuition than they do at the moment.

Following the Browne Review set up by the former Labour Government to report on Higher Education, Business Secretary Vince Cable is working on a system of repayment for tuition designed to make the highest earning graduates pay more than those who earn less. Part time students will no longer have to pay upfront fees.

We are introducing more generous maintenance grant to students from poorer families, and more generous loans to middle income families.

Margaret Rowley, Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Candidate for Mid-Worcestershire said

" While I appreciate that Vince Cable has negotiated the best possible deal for students in the circumstances, I signed the NUS pledge that if elected I would vote to scrap the tuition fee model of part-funding higher education. This reflects Party policy, and that policy has been agreed at Conference by Party members and was in our manifesto.

"If I had been elected, I would therefore have voted against the proposals to increase tuition fees. Last week I was one of 130 Liberal Democrat candidates for the 2010 general election who signed a petition calling on Nick Clegg, Vince Cable and all the Liberal Democrat MPs to vote against any increase in tuition fees. I expect that a number of our MPs will indeed vote against, although some may feel they have to follow the coalition agreement and abstain."