DJ Kershaw backs NUS fees campaign

DJ Kershaw backs NUS fees campaign by StudentMediaWire is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 UK: England & Wales License.

Ahead of a parliamentary vote on tuition fees on Thursday 9 December the National Union of Students today launched the latest stage of its campaign against student funding changes.

Government plans for further and higher education would see swingeing cuts to higher education funding, a tripling of tuition fees to £9,000 and the scrapping of the education maintenance allowance (EMA) which is a lifeline to millions of young people studying at colleges.

NUS’ Families Against Fees campaign asks families to send letters and emails to their MPs making clear their objections to the plans ahead of the vote on the issue next Thursday.

Radio presenter Liz Kershaw, who has one son already attending university and another studying at sixth form who will be directly affected by the Government’s plans, is supporting the campaign. She said: “Education is for the common good. David Cameron has said recently ‘The prosperity of our nation depends on the skills of its people’. Too right. Students should not have to pay personally to acquire those skills. Society should. It benefits from it. Otherwise what next? Charging kids to do GCSEs? Or tiny tots to learn to read and write?”

Aaron Porter, NUS President, said: “Over the past few weeks I have been contacted by a great number of parents who are desperately concerned about how their children will be affected. They understand the Government’s plans and are deeply worried about the future.

“They have asked me what they should say to children who want to pursue their ambitions in the arts or in humanities but are getting the message from the Government that these subjects are worthless.

“Many of the parents we speak to, and their children, will join student protests around the country but others are looking for other ways of making their feelings known and the www.familiesagainstfees.co.uk website gives them an easy to contact their MPs and to express their concerns.”