Whingeing about the top-up system won’t get me my money back
Warning: the following article contains numerous references to the NUS and tuition fees. Please refrain from turning the page or clicking ‘back’.
Not that you wouldn’t be justified in doing so.
The NUS’s war on politicians and the top-up fee system might well be a noble one.
But it’s the sort of war which lacks testosterone-tempering armoury, and instead involves a load of bland speeches and placard-driven lobbying.
For 24 hours earlier this week, a fresh battle was fought right on our doorstep as the whistle-stop Town Takeover tour reached Sheffield.
It was an opportunity for the NUS to openly re-engage students in their fight. To tell us why it all matters (again).
But the takeover drew only a smattering of support, while the evening’s debate with NUS president Wes Streeting and local politicians was sparsely attended.
It might have been different had Streeting brought with him and M16 or an AK-47 to help wage his crusade.
However, the only fiery exchange came when the three main parties bickered with each other over comments they supposedly made in the media.
With little prospect of any Sheffield Central candidate limping out of the theatre with a flesh wound, your average apolitical student would, frankly, rather be assassinating a 12-year-old Japanese boy on Call of Duty.
Because – and I’d whisper this if I could so as not to startle tuition fee-centric politicians – most current students don’t actually care about tuition fees.
I’ve already paid three years of tution fees. And no amount of campaigning or complaining will get me my 9,000-odd pounds back.
As I said, it’s a noble campaign. It’s a campaign that stands to benefit, in practical economic terms, nobody involved in it.
Rather than targeting Students’ Unions for support, the NUS would be better served doing a national Playground Takeover at various secondary schools and lobbying support from 15- and 16-year-olds currently gearing up for mock GCSEs.
That’s if Streeting can convince the youngsters that tuition fees are a more important issue than arranging who they’ll hold hands with over the park on Friday night.
I want to care about future generations of undergraduates, just like I want to care about my great-great-great-great-great-granddaughter who is going to die in a ball of flames because of my carbon footprint.
But I still can’t be arsed to look for the Bag For Life before I go down the shops, and I still can’t be arsed to rinse the tomato juice from a tin of beans so it can be recycled.
Owing much to my own apathy, I applaud those who took time to stand up for students on Monday, including the Union Officers.
The message behind the Town Takeover, though, wasn’t entirely convincing.
“Save Our Students,” it pleaded. But this city, nor any other, will ever be without a vibrant student community.
There are plenty of prospective students who are more than happy to pay more, especially with demand currently outweighing supply for university places.
The NUS should stop trying to score easy political points on the undivided issue of tuition fees and concentrate on making itself more relevant to the average student.
Each year, a referendum is held on whether our Union should be affiliated to the NUS which is barely opposed. It costs the Union £50,000 annually to be affiliated to the NUS.
Those who are fully engaged in student politics can sufficiently weigh up its democratic and commercial merits. But for thousands of others, the only apparent blow in losing NUS affiliation would be missing out on a 10 per cent discount at Topshop.
It’s time for the NUS to become more visible to the everyday student, and drop its systematic bleating over tuition fees.