Support our call for a cut in fees for students facing part or all online-only teaching this year.

The Department for Education has given higher education institutions more than £2 billion in funds but has yet to protect undergraduate students from having to pay full fees for courses that are now to be delivered only, or partly, online. A prime example is Cambridge University’s announcement that lectures will be online only for the entire 2020/21 academic year.

Call for lower fees for less access.

In her response to a letter sent by the Intergenerational Foundation to the Minister of State for Universities, Michelle Donelan stated that “universities are autonomous and responsible for setting their own fees,” yet the government has overruled private contracts on housing (no evictions and mortgage holidays), in employment (furloughing), in hospitals (ousting non-urgent cases) and in personal freedoms (lockdown). The idea that it is agnostic on how universities deal with fees at this time is selling students down the river.

Support our call to universities: If institutions can no longer offer access to many of the physical goods that universities “sell” to students as part of a higher education experience – such as access to grounds and buildings, sports facilities, playing fields, libraries, computers, design studios, science blocks, halls accommodation and catering, and the social capital that comes from this interaction – students should not have to pay for them. 

Support our call to the government: Michelle Donelan, MP, is the minister responsible for the absurd position where universities are saying they will charge language students the full fee of £9,250 for a "virtual year aboard".  There are also many science students who signed up for an extra 4th year on the basis that they would mainly get lab experience and educational work placements - neither of which are now being offered.

Help us to send a strong message to Michelle Donelan, the Department for Education, Universities UK and The Office for Students, that the government must reduce the fee cap substantially for the 2020/2021 academic year where teaching is to be part-online or online only.

A range of institutions already offer distance learning courses for less than £7,000 a year, and some for less than £5,000 a year. Examples include the University of Essex, the University of London, and the Open University. 

Help us in our fight to get a fairer deal for younger and future generations. You can donate at: www.if.org.uk/donate