MPs lobbied by students over fees

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Students are to lobby Parliament in a protest against university top-up fees.

The National Union of Students, joined by former Education Secretary David Blunkett, will ask MPs to support alternative funding.

More than 50% of university chiefs want students to pay at least £5,000 per year or for there to be no upper limit.

But the NUS says annual fees of £7,000 would leave students £32,000 in debt. They say students should pay according to how much they earn after university.

The NUS says about 100 students will meet at the House of Commons later and lobby MPs to support a five-point alternative funding system.

'True needs'

The proposals include greater flexibility in the way student support is assessed, funding that is relative to students' "true needs", greater efficiency within the funding system, and the re-establishment of "the financial compact between the state, individuals and employers".

Wes Streeting, national president of the NUS, said: "Students from across the country will be telling MPs why we need to abolish the disastrous top-up fees system.

"We are putting forward a radical proposal for an alternative system that is fairer for students, but still generates the kind of income the sector so badly needs.

It would at this time of global financial downturn, be unacceptable to lift the cap and have a free-for-all David Blunkettformer education secretary

"The current recession is a stark reminder that excessive levels of debt are unhealthy, both for individuals and the economy."

Mr Streeting added that the NUS believed higher education "should be free at the point of use for all students" with graduates paying according to how much they benefit financially from their education.

Mr Blunkett said: "Whilst it's clear that no government is going to pull the financial plug on the university sector by simply abolishing fees, it would at this time of global financial downturn be unacceptable to lift the cap and have a free-for-all across universities.

"The main task must be to avoid fully fledged 'top-up fees' which would lift constraints and result in an unregulated market. We have seen to our cost what this can mean."

In research conducted by BBC News, two-thirds of vice-chancellors, speaking anonymously, said they needed to raise fees, suggesting levels of between £4,000 and £20,000 per year.

England's Higher Education Minister David Lammy said there was an "important debate to be had".

University fees must be reviewed this year by the government - and there are already arguments about whether the present £3,500 cap on fees should be lifted.

Any changes will affect about a million students on undergraduate courses.