Bangor University Students’ Union English Language Newspaper
December 2014 Issue No. 244 FREE
@SerenBangor
seren.bangor.ac.uk
FESTIVE NAIL ART
MERRY CHRISTMAS
‘WHAT I CALL’ XMAS
Loan Time for Postgrads
by AMY BLACKWELL
Y
ou might have heard by now that George Osborne, in his Autumn Statement announced that student loans of up to £10,000 are to be offered to postgraduate students. This decision offers poorer students the opportunity to further their studies past undergrad. Osborne’s announcement is supported by NUS vice president Megan Dunn, who has commented that the loan is a “major step in the right direction” as most postgrads fund their studies through methods such as credit cards and personal loans which could end in disas-
ter. This all sounds fantastic right? Especially to third years thinking about doing an MA, like myself. But! Don’t get too excited (like I did). The loan won’t come in until the year 2016/2017, will only be available to students under 30 and could be charged at a higher rate than undergrad loans. At least it’s something though right? Nicola Dandridge, chief executive of Universities UK has said that they support the Government’s recognition of the problem and the benefits of postgraduate education for all who wish to go further academically. Lecturers’ union UCU said, that the
ideas were a step in the right direction but they don’t condone encouraging students to rack up more debt and that more radical methods of encouragement are needed. Their suggestions were: “restoring proper grants or writing off part of a student’s undergraduate debt when they complete a postgraduate course.” Nick Hillman, director of the Higher Education Policy Institute said about the age limit: “It will open up postgrad study to more people. The age limit will be frustrating to those who miss out and people will doubtless lobby against it. But it is a preferable starting point to many alternatives, like restricting the
loans to certain subjects.” And, Don Nutbeam, Vice Chancellor of Southampton University said: “For many professions, a postgraduate degree is essential. Without affordable access to postgraduate education, many professions were simply out of reach of those who could not afford to pay.” The chair of Bangor’s own Postgraduate Society, Jez Harvey commented: “It’s a real step forward to have the student loan system opened up to taught postgraduate students and we hope to see the Welsh Government follow the lead and do the same for Welsh students. At the same time
though, universities have been starved of funding whilst students are paying more and more every year to study. Whilst these loans will be of real help to many students looking to improve their learning and skills, the Governments throughout the UK must do more to help universities and students alike” Theres no doubt that the new loan scheme will open up doors for a lot of students and save a lot of funding stress but it is far from a perfect solution. For now though we should be happy that the Government are working in favour of students for once!