I would like to see university fees abolished as this would make it open to all. Until then none returnable grants would help people from low income families.

The answer, quite simply, is yes, people from low income backgrounds need extra help. Suggestions in the news today indicate that some university fees may rise to £10.000 a year. If that happens, then there MUST be some sort of bursary system to help students who are not well off. There are other issues too, some students don’t even apply because of lack of confidence or fear of debt – it’s a very complicated issue. Perhaps other ways into employment might look more attractive

Many of the people who have made the decisions about student finance never had to jump that hoop when they were younger. I do believe that young people with low income backgrounds do get a good bit of help financing their studies but I feel that the level of payback should be a lot higher than the threshold it is at the moment. Graduates getting jobs with a decent salary can be pretty difficult and in this present economic climate that is going to get worse. I would like to think that those young people who do get a university education are in a better position financially to get a better paid job and that should be paid for. I think that tuition fees are too high and the government should be subsidising more to those less able to pay. The payback amount should be immune from interest as that was always the plan for it to be an interest free loan paid back when salary got to a certain amount. I see that the statistics say that more and more young people want to enter University but it is places for them I worry about as I feel that higher education is just going to be for the wealthy.

I think options rather than the university route should be better promoted as there are so many other career routes available – I wish I had been made aware of the different career routes and apprentiships. Avoid debt and get to work would be my thinking unless someone has a definate career route like doctors, solicitors and then the debt is hopefully outweighed by the return that someone would get when in the chosen job. Choosing university should be taken more seriously rather than thinking this is the route you have to follow.

My basic answer to this question is yes I do think that young people from low income backgrounds should be given greater support when going to university. One of the problems with the old system of grants was that many students were graduating from university then going to work abroad, this meant that the tax payer was covering the cost of their education but another country was benefitting from the students expertise. I don’t know the best way to reform this system but I do believe that the next Labour Government needs to to take a serious look at the best way to provide equality for students and value for money for our country.