As the second National Lockdown had just commenced, British GCSE and A-Levels have been cancelled because it isn’t fair to let them go ahead. But what about university students? We are paying 9k a year for a zoom call, and now we are expected to submit exams over zoom, in many creative and physical subjects. This is not feasible. We are being treated differently due to the fact that this is not public money paying for our education, but our own pockets!

Many students have been unable to return to their accommodation after Christmas, some being cut off from resources needed to complete their exams and being unable to move back into their accommodation buildings which they are paying thousands of pounds for. And for those who can move back, we are being expected to live our lives, stressing over essays and exams in a shoebox room with little to no light. 

At the start of the pandemic, we were encouraged to come to university, then shunned for doing so, blamed for the spread and told we were going to “kill our grandparents”, some of us even being told we should “retrain in cyber” mere weeks into our £27k educational life. 

It seems the government and universities are unwilling to let us have any reimbursement of our tuition fees, not letting us use any of the facilities that are included in the fee such as libraries, studios and study spaces - where students can access computers if they cannot afford their own. This is why we are asking for an extension on our exams. We cannot finish stressful deadlines under these circumstances. Hearing the Prime Minister address the nation and not mentioning University students YET AGAIN, we are being left to navigate complex higher education courses with little to no help from tutors and the government itself. mental health for university students is at an all time low - living in halls I have seen this first hand - due to academic and financial pressure, ontop of personal and social pressure.

We are simply asking for extensions of exams. This pandemic has covered the backs of their young children - what about the young adults who are ready to break into today’s society with innovative ideas, creative solutions and the drive to have a positive change on our chosen industry.