Future shock

These days, students are having to pay more and more for the education which is supposedly open to all.

Many can't afford to move away from home and so miss out on the integral student life - or, if they can, they are forced to return home to their parents at the end of three years as they cannot afford to move elsewhere.

Jobs aren't that easy to come by, and many graduates have no choice but to take a temping job while they pay off their mountain of debt.

Now, after the introduction of tuition fees four years ago, an estimated 20,000 students have marched through London in the biggest student demonstration for 20 years to protest against the government's proposal to introduce university top-up fees. This could see higher education establishments charging around £10,000 a year for a degree course.

Before 1998, when tuition fees were introduced, students choosing to go to university were not obliged to pay anything towards their education and some received grants towards living.

In September 1998, grants were scrapped for all but the poorest students, and fees came into force.

Since then, means-tested fees have gradually increased from £1,000 and now, for the academic year 2002-03, students whose parents are on incomes of more than £30,502 are charged on a sliding scale up to £1,100.

Only students whose parents' income is less than £20,480 are exempt from paying.

As students no longer receive grants to help towards their cost of living they are entitled to a means-tested loan ranging from £3,090 if they live at home to £4,815 if they are living away from home and in London. This will then be paid back from their salaries once they find work.

Ami Neumann is a final year student at Bournemouth University and said that if top-up fees had been introduced when she was still at school it's unlikely she would have come to university at all.

"I have to pay full tuition fees at the moment, but luckily my parents give me the money to cover it," said the 21-year-old.

"Lots of my friends have to pay their own fees because their parents can't help them, and have had to take out extra loans.

"I already owe about £12,000 to the student loans company and if I'd had to pay another three or four thousand pounds a year in top-up fees I just wouldn't be able to afford it and neither would my parents."

According to Mandy Telford, president of the National Union of Students (NUS), most graduates are in the same situation as Ami, as the average debt upon leaving uni totals £12,000.

"There are no grants so students are having to live on loans and credit cards just to get by."

She believes the proposed top-up fees will create an elitist culture within universities.

"With top-up fees, universities will be able to charge whatever fees they like. Some are proposing fees of up to £10,500 a year. The majority of people who are already at university wouldn't be able to go. Only the very rich would be able to access it."

She adds: "The top universities will be charging £10,500, some will charge £6,000 or £7,000. Some will have to charge lower fees, will struggle to compete and eventually have to close."

Denise Adams, vice-president of student affairs at Bournemouth University Students Union, has similar worries. "A degree from Bournemouth could be devalued if this new system comes into place," she said. "It's likely to be cheaper to study here than at a 'red brick' institution, which could lead employers to think the degree is worth less in educational terms as well as monetary terms."

Telford says elitism is already becoming apparent as a result of tuition fees. "What we have seen is that the people going to universities are from the same middle-class social background as they always have been. The number of applications from poorer students hasn't gone up."

Adams thinks this very fact will mean Bournemouth students will be hardest hit. "Students at Bournemouth are predominately middle class. They were worst affected when tuition fees were introduced and will be again if top-ups become a reality, because the poorest students will still not have to pay.

"I believe it will put a lot of people off coming to university in the first place and I can see our higher education system becoming like America, where parents have to start up college funds as soon as their children are born."

Professor Paul Luker, who is pro-vice chancellor at Bournemouth University, said: "It is clear to all that higher education in this country is woefully under-funded. However, it is not clear where the funds will come from to redress the shortfall.

"We are committed to widening access to higher education to all who would benefit from it, and would not welcome any regime that deters students from going to university through their inability to pay."

Mandy Telford adds that many students find the burden of financial difficulties while at university is not worth it and are forced to drop out because they don't have enough to live on, while others who complete their courses take any job they can when they leave to clear their huge debts.

The Institute of Directors published a major policy paper earlier this year which argued that degrees aren't always as valuable as they are portrayed.

The paper calls for the scrapping of the government's 50 per cent target for young people to go on to higher education, with more effort being made into developing and promoting post-school vocational training.

Ruth Lea, head of the Institute of Directors' policy unit, says: "The current number of students going into higher education is already inappropriately high and the 50 per cent target for young people experiencing higher education exacerbates the situation.

"The 50 per cent target should simply be dropped and more post-18-year-olds should be steered towards vocational education and training."

She adds: "The current obsession with sending as many young people as possible into higher education undermines vocational training by making it appear a 'second best'. This helps no one, least of all the many students who study inappropriate higher education courses."

It is argued that the three or four years spent by students running up debt to sustain themselves through university could be better used earning money with a job that provides on-the-job training started straight after A-Levels.

And not all employers value graduates over those without a higher qualification.

The multinational company TNT Express, a leader in the highly competitive business of delivering parcels, does recruit graduates but also has a motto which says you can join the firm as a driver and end up as the managing director.

Lea argues that many young people are going to university to study a meaningless degree that, at the end of the day, will not improve their job prospects. "We need more plumbers and fewer media studies graduates," she says.

However, despite the financial struggles, roughly one third of 18-year-olds packed their bags and started a new life at university this year - suggesting that many still do believe it is worth the trouble.

And a report from the Careers Services Unit earlier this year claimed that employees with degrees earn nearly £15,000 a year more on average than those who do not.

So maybe there is a silver lining - as long as students are prepared to spend the first 10 years of their working lives scrimping and saving to pay off what they owe.