St Andrews University students have cast a majority vote in favour of supporting the political effort of NUS Scotland to bring into force a progressive graduate tax.
Members of the Students’ Representative Council (SRC) voted 16-2 behind the plan spearheaded by NUS Scotland president Liam Burns, who is calling on the Scottish Government to introduce the radical reform.
If given the go-ahead it would mean that students not only pay for their education after graduating but also the tax would be adopted as a new model to help fund the country’s higher education system.
As outlined by the NUS, the SRC is supportive of students making payments once they begin to earn an appropriate amount after university. In addition, the SRC stresses that pay-back rates would need to be linked to earnings and ability to pay instead of through a mortgage-style fixed sum.
In passing the resolution, which is now the official stance of the University of St Andrews Students’ Association, the SRC rejected any proposal to introduce tuition fees in Scotland or a competitive market system in Scottish tertiary education.
“We believe that this is the fairest and most pragmatic model of funding for Scotland,” said association president Owen Wilton.
“We also back the NUS in their attempts to dispel the myth that education is currently ‘free’ in Scotland it isn’t. As the NUS have shown their report, Still in the Red, living and accommodation costs are steep and rising, and students are unable to access the funds they need to support themselves through their degrees.”
The controversial issue of student fees was pushed to the centre of the political stage when Lord Browne’s long-awaited review of England’s higher education system was published.
Students from around the UK are expected to gather in Westminster on November 10 to protest against cuts to the education budget.