‘Holding Onto Our Education’
York College students unite to hold onto their education, literally!

Students and staff held hands around the perimeter of the York College building in protest against cuts to education and to symbolise their passion for protecting their education.

Student Rosie Corrigan said: “The planned cuts to education, including raising the cap on tuition fees and scrapping EMA are an abhorrent example of the creation of an education system that only the rich can afford. Education is a right, and we unite around college to hold onto this right.”

Fellow student Toby Dickinson added: “This is not a financial deficit to be paid by students. We did not cause this economic crisis, we are innocent, why should we pay? Are we not the future after all?”

The students believe that the government's decision to lift the cap on tuition fees (which already acts as a barrier to education) is going to deter young people, especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds, from going to university. One in three young people will choose their university, and whether or not to go to university, based upon cost. They believe that this will create an education system that only the rich can afford.

They believe that the government's decision to scrap Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA) will further create an education system that only the rich can afford. This can be illustrated by looking to Scotland, where the SNP administration cut the budget for EMA by 20%, and youth unemployment has risen by 7000.

Students feel they are the innocent and unenfranchised in today's economic predicament, and considering that they are constantly being told that they are the future, they find it abhorrent that the government intend to compromise their education and their future, to pay for their past mistakes.