FUCK FUTURE FINANCE – THE FRIGHTENING REALITY OF PRIVATE STUDENT LOANS

Posted on August 3, 2018 by Norwich Radical in Student and tagged academics, advertising, campaigning, casualisation, corporations, cost of living, cycle of debt, featured, finance, Future Finance, government, higher education, interest rates, loan sharks, maintenance, marketisation, mental health, morality, NCAFC, payday loans, predatory loans, private landlords, private student loans, rent hikes, student activism, student debt, student finance, student loans, suicide, trade unions, tuition fees, UCU, UCU strike, unethical, university, working class.

By Robyn Banks

CW: mentions suicide.

Sometimes targeted adverts reveal to you more than you wanted to know. I’ve recently been experiencing facebook ads for Future Finance, a company that offers loans of up to £40,000 to students, with an interest rate of 17.45% APR for all the time that you’re studying. To put that in perspective, if you borrowed £7000 over 5 years, you’d have repaid a stonking £11,223 by the time you’ve paid it off. This eye watering example reveals both the current state of Higher Education financing and a frightening future that is increasingly intruding on the present.

A CO-OPERATIVE FUTURE FOR STUDENTS – BEYOND TUITION FEES #9

Posted on May 30, 2018 by Norwich Radical in Student and tagged BDS, Beyond Tuition Fees, Birmingham, Birmingham Student Housing Co-op, block grants, Brighton, co-operatives, Co-ops UK, coalition, corbyn, cost of living, democracy, economics, Edinburgh, Edinburgh Student Housing Co-op, ethical procurement, exploitation, featured, food, food co-ops, free range, free trade, Glasgow, Glasgow Student Housing Co-op, grassroots, housing, Labour, landlords, local food, maintenance grants, nestle boycott, norwich, Norwich Association for the Co-operative Housing of Students, nursing bursaries, NUS, NUSSL, organic, private renting, profit, property, Sheffield, Sheffield Student Housing Co-op, student accommodation, student activism, Student Co-operative Homes, student debt, student housing coops, student loans, students, Students for Co-operation, students' unions, SU reform, Tories, tuition fees.

By Robyn Banks

It is a time of extraordinary potential for change in UK Higher Education. Labour’s promise to end tuition fees has defied the critics and united many behind Corbyn’s political project. But what will the implications for universities be if this comes to pass? And what can we do to leverage this progress? In this series, the Norwich Radical and Bright Green are bringing together perspectives from across the sector to explore these questions.

Up and down the UK, from Edinburgh to Brighton, students are building alternatives to existing, exploitative housing and food practices. How? By creating co-operatives! These alternative ways of organising are expanding and flourishing at a rate never seen before, as students look to take their lives into their own hands, in defiance of the rising cost of living and exploitative landlords and businesses. The founding of Student Co-operative Homes, a launch pad organisation for potential student housing co-ops across the UK founded by the grassroots network Students for Co-operation and supported by national co-op federation Co-Ops UK, demonstrates the growing support for these independent, democratic projects.

ANOTHER HIGHER EDUCATION IS ALREADY HERE – BEYOND TUITION FEES #8

Posted on May 12, 2018 by Norwich Radical in Student and tagged 1963 Robbins Report, 1997 Dearing Report, 2010 Browne Review, academics, administrators, adult education, AntiUniversity NOW, authority, Beyond Tuition Fees, borders, capitalism, competition, corbyn, course closures, employability, featured, Free Education, grading, grassroots, higher education, Labour, Leicester Vaughan College, mental illness, metrics, Mondragon Unibertsitatea, nationalism, neoliberalism, privatisation, privilege, radical imagination, social inequality, Solidarity Acadamies, state funding, student debt, student loans, students, teaching, tuition fees, UCU strike, uk, Universidad de la Tierra, universities, university management, workers rights, workplace abuse.

By Sarah Amsler

‘The university’ is a fertile space within which to practice radical imagining and world-making today. I do not mean that actually-existing universities, in the UK or elsewhere, necessarily provide space for such work. On the contrary, there is ample evidence that the spaces for critique and creative thinking in higher education have shrunk as forces of commodity fetishism, privatisation, competition and authoritarian modes of control have permeated university governance. Continue Reading

WHAT ARE UNIVERSITY COMMUNITIES MADE OF? – BEYOND TUITION FEES #6

Posted on April 28, 2018 by Norwich Radical in Student and tagged academics, Beyond Tuition Fees, Community, consumerism, demonstration, freedom, legislation, marketing, Notes From Below, PR, relationship marketing, Stuart Hall, student loans, students, UCU, universities, Universities UK, university communities, university management, USS strikes, workers, workers' inquiry, workplace dynamics.

By Ellen Musgrove and Max Savage

At any demonstration concerning the anti-marketisation or -commodification of education and the university you will hear the phrase “We are not consumers – we are a community.” The motive behind this message is a good one, bearing positive and uplifting implications for the demonstrators. However, to those outside the demo space, be they apathetic students passing by or workers who may not have the freedom to stop and participate as readily as an academic might, calling ourselves a community means very little in a practical sense.

DOCUMENTING DISAPPOINTMENT – EDUCATION IN THE AUTUMN BUDGET

Posted on November 29, 2017 by Norwich Radical in Student and tagged #Autumnbudget, Autumn budget 2017, Brexit, budget, campaigning, capitalism, Chancellor of the Exchequer, computer science, creative subjects, creativity, economics, EU, graduates, higher education, international students, maths, Philip Hammond, policy, politics, school funding, schools, skills, student debt sell off, student loans, students, Treasury, UCAS.

by Laura Potts

Last week saw the government’s Autumn budget released for public scrutiny. The report starts by stating that the United Kingdom has “a bright future”, with talk of an independent economy forging new relationships with the EU. This long term plan is meant to give voters the belief to take the long road with the government for a better Britain, but their sweeping statements do not at all sit in line with what I and many others would see as a ‘brighter future’. This is as true in the field of education as any other.

WHY LORD ADONIS IS WRONG ABOUT POLYTECHNICS

Posted on October 13, 2017 by Norwich Radical in Student and tagged Anglia Ruskin University, class discrimination, course cuts, education, employer bias, employment, establishment, funding, funding cuts, government, higher education, House of Lords, job cuts, Lord Adonis, lower income backgrounds, politics, polytechnics, postgraduate study, rent, staff cuts, student accommodation, student debt, student loans, student welfare, tony blair, tuition fees, universities, vice chancellor pay, voters, working class.

by Robyn Banks

This week, former education minister Lord Adonis decided to reopen a debate that was seemingly long-dead. During a report to a House of Lords Committee, he stated that the decision to allow polytechnics to become universities 25 years ago was “a very serious mistake”. This problematic claim reveals the real views of someone who has lately been seen as posing significant challenges of the higher education sector’s issues.

THE TUITION FEE FREEZE – TOO LITTLE TOO LATE

Posted on October 4, 2017 by Norwich Radical in Student and tagged access, austerity, Brexit, child poverty, conservative party, conservative party conference, conservatives, elections, false promises, fox hunting, Free Education, government, help to buy, jeremy corbyn, Labour, less well off, living standards, migration, older people, patronising, politics, prime minister, privatisation, property ladder, repayment threshold, snap election, student debt, student loans, student welfare, students, theresa may, tuition fee freeze, tuition fee rises, tuition fees, voters, voting, young people.

by Laura Potts

As the country continues to languish in the grasp of a Conservative government, and the shadows of brexit and the snap election continue to lengthen, many are left questioning the political standing of this country’s future. This year’s extraordinary general election has made many people feel alienated from their government, especially among the younger generation. Hardly surprising, as the ultimate outcome reflected the voting preferences of their elders, with 58% of 60-69 yr old’s voting conservative while 62% of 20-24 year olds voted labour.

BLINDED BY IDEOLOGY – TWO YEAR DEGREES REVISITED

Posted on September 15, 2017 by Norwich Radical in Student and tagged career focus, class, class divide, competition, cuts, economics, education, fast track degrees, first time buyers, Free Education, free school meals, government, grades, HE policy, higher education, ideology, interest, isolation, lower socio-economic backgrounds, market economics, mental health, mental health services, middle class, minority government, module diversity, money grab, overwork, state funding, student debt, student finance, student loans, student support, student welfare, students, teaching, teaching quality, The Student Room, time pressure, Times Higher Education, Tories, tuition fees, two tier system, two year degrees, underfunding, wealth inequality, working class, working class students.

by Robyn Banks

Back in March, the MinoriTory government announced the idea of running fast track two year degree courses in the hope of saving students money. Last week the Times Higher Education supplement revealed that surveyed students from lower socio-economic backgrounds would be more likely to take this option up if it existed. Could the Tories’ apparently hare-brained scheme in fact be justified?

WHY THE TORIES DON’T CARE ABOUT NURSES

Posted on July 21, 2017 by Norwich Radical in Student and tagged #MayDUP, #OurNHS, activism, Brexit, Brexit negotiations, bursary cuts, crisis, cuts, DUP, employment, EU, EU students, EU workers, European Economic Area, european union, Free Education, frontline services, future, government, government cuts, health, healthcare, hospitals, How Come We Didn't Know?, Institute of Employment Studies, King's Lynn, magic money tree, Marion Macalpine, migrants, migration, NHS, NHS bursaries, NHS Norfolk Action Group, norfolk, norwich, nurse horror stories, nurses, nursing, nursing student applications, nursing students, politics, privatisation, Queen Elizabeth Hospital King's Lynn, research, Royal College of Nursing, St Margaret's Church of Art, staff shortage, student applications, student debt, student loans, students, Sustainability and Transformation plans, The Telegraph, Tories, tuition fees, UEA, underfunding, universities, workers rights, workforce, workforce crisis.

by Robyn Banks

CW: death, disease, corpses.

Last week we heard that the number of people applying to become nursing students has fallen by 19% in the past year. As this is the first application cycle since government cuts to NHS bursaries, for many this will not be much of a shock. It’s clear that the government’s decision to take away this provision that allowed many students to attend their courses will have serious detrimental effects, not only for the institutions that train nurses but for the NHS as a whole.

DEBT RISING – HOW TUITION FEES ARE KILLING UNIVERSITIES

Posted on June 23, 2017 by Norwich Radical in Student and tagged Aberystwyth University, campus closures, ConDem coalition, course cuts, cuts, Durham University, Free Education, GE17, government, graduates, Green Party, HE funding, interest, Labour, Manchester Metropolitan University, marketisation, Parliament, student debt, student life, student loans, student loans sell off, students, teaching, tony blair, Tories, tuition fees, universities, university closures, university of manchester, votes, voting.

by Robyn Banks

Last week it was announced that the total student debt in the UK has reached over £100 billion for the first time. Whilst this milestone was inevitable, it is nonetheless an indictment of the current government’s claim that it is easy and convenient for students to pay off their debt under the post-2010 system.

student loans

FUCK FUTURE FINANCE – THE FRIGHTENING REALITY OF PRIVATE STUDENT LOANS

A CO-OPERATIVE FUTURE FOR STUDENTS – BEYOND TUITION FEES #9

WHAT ARE UNIVERSITY COMMUNITIES MADE OF? – BEYOND TUITION FEES #6

DOCUMENTING DISAPPOINTMENT – EDUCATION IN THE AUTUMN BUDGET

WHY LORD ADONIS IS WRONG ABOUT POLYTECHNICS

THE TUITION FEE FREEZE – TOO LITTLE TOO LATE

BLINDED BY IDEOLOGY – TWO YEAR DEGREES REVISITED

WHY THE TORIES DON’T CARE ABOUT NURSES

DEBT RISING – HOW TUITION FEES ARE KILLING UNIVERSITIES

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