LOCAL STUDENTS COULD FACE £7,000 TUITION FEES - Alcock

11.28.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Mon 19th Oct 2009

University students

Mark Alcock fears local students could face £7,000 student fees.

There is now less than eight months to save a new generation of young people from huge increases in university tuition fees, according to Shadow Liberal Democrat MP for Oldham West & Royton including Chadderton, Mark Alcock.

He was speaking after the Conservatives suggested they will increase tuition fees to £7,000 if they take power at the next general election, which has to be held by 3rd June next year.

That will see tuition fees for undergraduates more than double. Currently there is a cap of £3,300 in England and Wales.

Peter Mandelson has already suggested that Labour will allow universities to charge more than at present if re-elected - though the party is too scared to push through the changes it wants before June.

Only the Liberal Democrats will scrap tuition fees. The party believes university education should be free and everyone who has the ability should be able to go - and not be put off by the cost.

Mark Alcock said: "I look around Oldham West & Royton including Chadderton, and I see people return from university with no job and a bank balance tens of thousands of pounds in the red. What sort of message is that?

"Labour and now the Tories are showing their true colours. They don't care about young people - they just want to saddle them with staggering amounts of debt.

"The choice is clear: the people of Oldham West & Royton including Chadderton can vote for a politician who will condemn a generation of youngsters or for the Liberal Democrats who will make education free again, giving young people the best possible start."

ENDS

NOTES TO EDITORS

1) The National Union of Students estimates that the average cost of attending university now stands at more than £42,000. The average graduate will have accrued nearly £20,000 of debt by the end of a three-year course.

2) For more details on the Tories' university policy see Daily Express, 15 October: "Student debt to soar as tuition fees could rise to £7,000 a year" http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/134074/Student-debt-to-soar-

3) For more details on Labour's university policy see Daily Mail, 28 July: "Liberal Democrats are the only party which believes university education should be free and everyone who has the ability should be able to go to university and not be put off by the cost." http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1202408/Middle-class-face-7-000-tuition-fees-pay-poor-Mandy-warns-excellence-cheap.html