Student Fees Increase Must Be Resisted Says O'Boyle

“Our xa0economic document ‘Partnership and Economic Recovery’ shows how more than £4 billion could be saved and raised without the needs for such an astronomical hike in student fees. The SDLP’s MPs and those from other parties in Northern Ireland voted against the rise in student fees in England and in Wales. “It is worth noting that this draft budget in Northern Ireland which leaves a £40 million hole in the Department of Employment and Learning’s coffers has been agreed only by Sinn Fein, the DUP and Alliance, whose cries of opposition now ring hollow. “The SDLP has long argued that a third level education must be based on the ability to learn and not on the ability to pay. Many of our graduates are leaving university already saddled with enormous levels of debt, and this devolved government will be increasing this burden. The argument that young people need not start to repay the debt until they are earning over £21k is not helpful. The knowledge that this debt will have to be paid some day is a huge psychological millstone around the necks of the young. With this increase in fees there is not even a guarantee that the quality of the teaching they will receive will be improved.” Councillor O’Boyle added, “Devolution has put the economy at the heart of its programme for government, and a highly educated workforce is central to this objective. Stuart’s recommendations make a mockery of this aspiration and if they are taken up by the Sinn Fein/DUP coalition, this country will see many thousands more of our young people emigrating in search of a future. The proposed massive increase is a short-sighted plan to replenish the financial reserves of this government, but the loss of a generation of gifted young people can never be restored.”]]>