FOLLOWING a mass demonstration against the Government’s proposed rise in tuition fees in London, three students explain how they think higher fees could lead to a drop in numbers at the University of Cumbria.

University of Cumbria Students Union officer Liam Walker thinks the university’s unique demographic - 59 per cent mature students, 30 per cent home students and 16 per cent undergraduate students from lower participation backgrounds - would be hit severely by the proposed hike in fees.

“By allowing universities to charge £9000 you create a market. Only the ‘prestige’ unis will prosper and ‘new’ universities like ourselves, with older students and more working class students, could lose out if the fees mean people are put off from going to university.

"Someone returning to education with a family will struggle to afford fees the Government are suggesting,” he said.

Case studies

The mature student

Name: Deborah Littleton

Age: 40

From: Workington

Deborah Littleton left school at 16. After being made redundant four years ago decided to follow her passion for wildlife and studied for a BSc in Animal Conservation.

“I’d always been interested in conservation and a degree was something I’d always wanted. I felt that I had more potential and couldn’t see why university should be closed off to me just because of my age.”

Now pregnant with her first child, Mrs Littleton said if she’d faced fees of up to £9000 when she was applying to study she wouldn’t have gone to university.

“There’s absolutely no way I could have done my degree if the fees had been any higher. With a baby on the way now I just don’t know how mature students with families would cope with a rise like that.

I had a mortgage to pay during my degree and had to do four part time jobs just to survive. When your older you have other financial commitments, and with the Government allowing universities to charge almost tripple what they do now, they’re effectively denying mature students the right to learn.”

The home student

Name: Gillon Ross

Age: 25

From: Grange-over-Sands

Former Cartmel Priory student Mr Ross chose the University of Cumbria because it was close to home and he could keep costs down.

He didn’t get the grades he needed to go to university when he sat his A Levels, but after re-taking them he is now in his third year of a four year primary teaching degree at the Lancaster campus.

He said if he’d been asked to pay £9,000 per year in tuition fees, he would have abandoned his career as a teacher.

He explained: “After college I started work at Burner’s Leisure Centre in Grange over Sands, then went into sales but that didn’t really work out for me. I got to the point where I wanted some direction in my life, and decided to become a teacher.

“If they’d charged me £9000 a year from the start of my degree I would have had to seriously think about whether I could afford to do the course.”

The ‘hard to reach’ student

(Students from lower participation areas like west Cumbria)

Name: Joyce Longcake

Age: 56

From: Seaton, west Cumbria.

Joyce Longcake opted for university at 53 after spending 18 years working for Sellafield. She took an adult training course in IT and then a BSc honours in applied computing.

She said her career aspirations would have been extinguished at the first hurdle had her fees cost much more than the average £3,000 per year she paid.

“With the fees that are expected I definitely couldn’t go to university as a mature student now. I grew up on the west coast and when I left school in the late 60s and in my community you just didn’t hear of people going to university.

I’ve had my second chance at education and it’s given me a new set of skills which I’ve been able to use to find new work. It would be such a shame that people like me from the west coast who have typically been isolated from higher education wouldn’t get the chance to improve themselves because they can’t afford the fees.”