UK: NUS fight to #CutTheCosts

Spiraling costs and deepening debt threaten to make education even more unequal than it already is. Despite the widespread recognition that debt was a significant cause of the 2008 crash, this government’s education system saddles students with massive personal debt.

NUS (with the help of a giant inflated piggy-bank!) are calling on the government to stop the scrapping of maintenance grants, the continued cuts to further education and to demand that politicians #CutTheCosts students face both today, and in the future.

A successful Westminster lobby on Tuesday 8 December resulted in a motion opposing the cuts to grants being put forward. A vote has to occur within 40 days of the regulations being laid, so we have until 28 January to make it happen. Over 70 MPs signed the motion thanks to the fantastic campaigning by students’ unions up and down the country last term. Our hard work forced the government to have the debate after the Labour Party called for an opposition day debate.

Although the government was able to narrowly win the vote, 292 MPs from across the political spectrum voted to save maintenance grants. We have now secured a non-binding vote in the House of Lords on Monday 25 January. Whilst this vote will not change the result, it will ask further questions as to how the government has pushed through such a terrible policy.