Every September the new students arrive to start a whole new chapter in their lives- their university careers. It is a time of year when tears come to my eyes. Little do these people realise what is in store for them.

The abolition of grants and the introduction of tuition fees was one of the most controversial acts of parliament ever (1). Despite government suggestions things are not getting better they are getting worse. Predictions state that those leaving university in seven years time likely to be £33,708 in debt (2). That is a very conservative figure.

The authorities say that graduates earn 64% more than non-graduates and are half as likely to be unemployed (3). In reality that is not the case and there is a huge price to pay for it. The government are making many assumptions about future careers. If graduates are fortunate enough to earn a high salary (assuming they do not take a career break to have a family, work part time or take lower part time work in the public sector), graduates pay back tens of thousands of pounds more in income tax over their lifetime than non-graduates- more than sufficient to cover the cost of their degree. (4) A civil servant said (anonymously) that this figure was obtained from people who did their degrees in the 1960s. In those days very few went to university and most of those went into professional courses. It is no wonder the government came up with that figure.

The future is very bleak if you consider (5) and (6).

Let us consider a student who has no parental income. The maximum loan for such a student living away from home is £4000 (6). Here we will show that such a student on a three-year course will walk away from university with a minimum debt of £21343.88 using today’s figures. For medical students as we will see later, it is far worse.

First year

The £4000 is to last from 1st October of the first year to 1st October of the second year. This is to last for one whole year. There is no additional funding for the 12-week summer vacation. Let us take the case of the student who lives in Halls of Residence for the 39 weeks. The cheapest hall of residence room at Sheffield is £2785.33. (7) Rents can be much more (7).

However there are times during the course that a student needs large sums of money. (5) When the student arrives there are books to but, in many cases fees to pay, rent to pay, society memberships etc. The winter terms ends with Christmas and I don’t need to tell you how expensive that is! In January the student has to normally put down a deposit on the following year’s accommodation. It is normally a month’s rent. At the end of the year the student has to pay for the summer rent as most landlords use a 52-week contract and as such the student has to pay 13 weeks summer rent, whether the student lives there or not. In Sheffield basic rents are about £45 per week in private accommodation. So for the summer the student has to pay £585. According to (3) a student’s expenses excluding accommodation for and food 39 weeks is £2754. In Halls of residence students get breakfast and an evening meal included. The cheapest meal at the student union for lunch is £3. Let us assume the student ate his/her lunch there every working day for 39 weeks it would amount to £585.

Once the academic year is over the student has 13 weeks at which they spend £97.35 per week excluding accommodation.

When this is added to the accommodation costs of £2785.33 in halls of residence and £585 for summer accommodation the bill for financing the first year is £7389.88. The student has a shortfall of £3389.88. The student will have to pay interest on this shortfall.

Second year (1st October 2nd year to 1st October third year)

In the second year the cycle is repeated however it gets worse as there are huge gas and electricity bills to pay in the winter terms so the figures quoted are averages but can amount to more. On top of that assuming that the student stays in the same house he/she has to pay £45 per week for 52 weeks amounting to £2340 in rent alone and £5062 in other expenses. Thus the cost for the second year is £7402. Thus the student has a shortfall of £3402. The student is currently £14791.88 in debt! Bear in mind that £45 is the cheapest rent you can get. Rents can be as much as £55 per week excluding bills.

Third year (1st October 3rd year to Second week in June- end of course.)

In the final year the problem here is that the student will have a dissertation to complete. This can cost £1000 in some cases. Add to these 39 weeks of £45 per week and £3797 this amounts to £6692. This amounts to a shortfall of £2692. The total debt over the three years is £21343.88. The total student loan from the state is £12000.

This makes very sobering reading. However it will only get worse. As stated in (8) universities only have four sources of income; government grants, private donations, private contracts and student fees. Government grants fall year on year. Private donations and contracts are unreliable. The only avenue for the universities is to pressurise the authorities to increase the fees. This explains the rise in student tuition fees.

The cheapest fees at Sheffield University are for Arts, Law, Social Science, and Town & Regional Planning costing £7,870 for international students who unfortunately have to pay the full fees. (9) If such a student had to pay the full tuition fees at £7870 pus £21343.88 in the worst case scenario a student with no parental income would be £44953.88 in debt on finishing a three year degree course. In my opinion this will happen by 2010 unless we take action.

However as also stated in (8) what happens in the government decides to contract out the student loans companies to companies that will end up charging commercial rates of interest? This is already happening (10). I fear it is only a matter of time before the Student Loans Company is put in private hands. The only way to stop this is for students and graduates to boycott any bank that does this.

Medical Students

Using the data in (8) it seems that a medical student starting in 2003 who has no parental support will be £38000 in debt on graduation. A £3000 rise since the article was written. In the full tuition fees had to be paid such a student would be £117050 in debt on graduation. The fees are £10,500 for the first two years and £19350 for the clinical years. (9)

So how does it affect us all?

In reality this affects us all. 40% of all students now work while studying for an average of 13 hours a week. More than half of lower income students work for an average of 15 hours a week. Nearly half of them are concerned that working is adversely affecting their studies. 57% of students who work do so to cover the cost of basic essentials, 11% are working to cover tuition fees. (11)

If these students are doing part time work, then they are taking jobs away from unemployed people. As such the money taken in by taxation falls and social security payments rise contributing to the negative balance of payments. Shops in student areas will suffer: students will have less money to spend (5). As businesses in student areas suffer more staff will be laid off increasing unemployment.

Students are also known to resort to less favourable methods of making ends meet such as prostitution (8) (12) (13). Although a counsellor and police officer told me (anonymously) that he has known students to go into drug pushing, gambling, escort work, posing for pornography and illegal fights. I wonder if Mr Blair would want his children to go into these? It never ceases to amaze me that the number of prostitutes plummets when the students go home for summer and rockets when the students come back. It also never ceases to bring tears to my eyes either.

One of the biggest risk factors for suicide is poverty and debt. No doubt this will get worse as debts increase.

So is it worth it?

Well this is my personal opinion but I would most strongly advise anyone now not to go to university. The debt is the main reason. However as more people go to university the value of a degree will lessen. As students graduate with increasing debt graduates will take on jobs with lower starting salaries- many of which will not require a degree. As such three years hard work will have been in vain. Unless your degree guarantees work then I would strongly advise against university. Competition for graduate jobs will increase and then there is the issue of discrimination in job applications.

My vision of the future

It is only a matter of time until the only people who will be able to go to university will be the very rich. People will have to start re-mortgaging their homes to put their children through university and no doubt there will be saving schemes for this. Could these vested interests be partly behind this scenario?

However as graduate debts increase what happens if you have a family? You may want to buy a house and so you’ll have a mortgage as well. Do you really want to burden yourself with a mortgage when potentially you could already have a £45000 debt? What happens if you get married and you have children and one of you stays at home for a few years to look after them? Worse still what happens if you are both graduates?

To make matters worse with the European Working Time Directive soon to be in place people will not be able to work extra hours in order to pay off debts. This especially applies to junior doctors. Employers will be able to justify paying people lower salaries as graduates will be desperate to take on anything that will help pay off their debts. No doubt this will help stop the rise of the minimum wage.

The solution

Firstly we need to write off all outstanding student loans.

Companies should be able to claim tax relief for donations to universities.

I think we should see student support as an investment. I would scrap tuition fees and restore grants to 1979 levels, protect payments and increase this in line with inflation every year. When applying for social security they don’t ask for parental income so why should they for students going to university? I would give all students a £9000 salary per year. For medical students in the clinical years I would give them £12000.

Students not doing part time jobs and thus freeing up jobs for local people will offset this. This will raise government income by taxation and reduce social security payments. Total government income is £428 billion and total expenditure is £456 billion. A shortfall of £28 billion (15). Social security costs £133 billion. As such this will help reduce the biggest single sector of government expenditure and help increase taxation. So long as the student does not earn more than the single person’s allowance they will not have to pay tax on what they earn from their part time job. It will also save vast quantities of money in administration fees. Students will lose the financial disincentive to go on to do postgraduate degrees and research. Why do another three years of a PhD when you already have a £21454 debt that in the future could rise to £45064.33 before you start a PhD?

As far as the medical profession is concerned it will also eliminate the problems shown in (8) that will no doubt get worse as medical student debt increases. It always astounds me, how out of touch the medical profession is with this. For example Professor Weetman dean of Sheffield University medical school once said (in a taped interview), “It probably hasn’t changed that much since I was a student.” He graduated in 1977. A very prominent member of the Royal College of Pathologists estimated a debt of £4000 on graduation.

The financial barriers to mature students will disappear and the GMC are supposedly very keen on expanding the diversity of the medical student population (14). If you consider a mature student who has no parental income starting medicine with a £21454 debt and then lumber them with another £38000 then he/she will be £59454 in debt on graduation. In the full tuition fees had to be paid such a student would be £117050 in debt for medicine and £45064.33 for the three-year degree course. In total it works out as a total of £162003.88 in debt after 8 year’s study. If that won’t put you off I don’t know what will!

What can we do?

There are some links below and obviously writing to your member of parliament is one option. All you need to do is ask him/her to read this and ask for a comment. I would be very interested to see what they have to say so ask them to email it to us! I believe the authorities will not listen. That said some pensioners are going down the non-payment route due to paltry increases in their pensions.

Conclusion

In conclusion the situation is getting worse. We are all suffering; student debt affects every single one of us in some way. As stated in (8) at the 1996 Labour Party conference Tony Blair said that in office his government would have three priorities “Education, Education and Education.” Again I challenge him to put his money where his mouth is and remember the statement on the Anderson Committee of 1960 “the Country is committed to a large expansion in the places available in higher education, the function of the awards system to ensure that those qualified to take advantage of these costly facilities are not deterred from doing so.”

It saddens me that two years after I wrote the original article on medical student debt (8) the government have still not listened to the voice of the people. Student financial support is an investment in people. We will all benefit and the authorities will see a return, not necessarily a financial return but life will be better for us all. However do they care?

The answer is simple- they don’t.

Bibliography

NUS press pack http://www.nusonline.co.uk/resource/resources/pdf/3825.pdf Date checked 18 September 2003

Student debt 'to triple by 2010' http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_808845.html?menu=news.politics 14:58 Wednesday 13th August 2003

Thinking about Higher Education? Department for Education and Skills http://www.dfes.gov.uk/aimhigher Date Checked 24 September 2003

Funding the future- winning the arguments National Union of Students Date http://www.nusonline.co.uk/resource/resources/pdf/3828.pdf checked 1st September 2003

Medical Student Stress Varma S (1999) Unpublished

Higher Education: How to get financial help as a student Department for Education and Skills http://www.dfes.gov.uk/studentsupport/students/pla_.shtml Date Checked 6 September 2003

Halls of Residence Hall Fees http://www.shef.ac.uk/housing/halls/additional_info/hallfees.html Date Checked 7 September 2003

Why do Medical Students end up in Debt? Sushant Varma http://wwww.undercover-medicine.com/s7/s1/article54.shtml Date checked 1st July 2003

Overseas tuition fees http://www.shef.ac.uk/international/fees.htm Date checked 18 September 2003.

Big rise in cost of student debt http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/3103281.stm Last Updated: Monday, 28 July, 2003, 14:05 GMT 15:05 UK

What’s at Stake? National Union of Students http://www.nusonline.co.uk/subsites/stopfeesnow/issues/facts.php Date Checked 6 September 2003

I paid for my degree by pole dancing Closer 19-25 August 2003 page 28

Why College Girls become call girls by Precious Williams Glamour Magazine April 2003 page 97

Tomorrow’s Doctors General Medical Council http://www.gmc-uk.org/med_ed/default.htm.tomdoc.htm Date checked 1 September 2003

Budget 2003 Building a Britain of economic strength and social justice HM Treasury Summary leaflet April 2003 http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk Date checked April 2003.