Mothers' challenge on student debt

By Sean Coughlan
BBC News Online's education staff

Mothers have challenged the education secretary over the soaring debt levels faced by students.

And in response, the Education Secretary Charles Clarke has given the clearest hint so far of further subsidies for poorer students.

Jan Krall told the education secretary she was worried about her son's debts

"It is conceivable that from 2006, lower income students will not pay any fees to go to university," he said.

Mr Clarke, attending a roadshow encouraging more young people to apply for university, was accused by parents of allowing students to pile up debts on credit cards.

Jan Krall, whose son is a university student in Swansea, said that government's efforts to persuade more young people into university failed to consider the impact of debt.

"I've brought up my children not to borrow - and I can't get my head around the idea of now encouraging them to get into £15,000 to £20,000 worth of debts. It really bugs me."

Ms Krall levelled the accusation at an event at Phoenix High School in west London, which had been designed to promote the government's higher education policy.

Janet Northover says that parents need clearer information about student fees

She told the education secretary that her son, who was studying automotive design, had to survive on baked beans and stale bread, because the grant he received failed to cover his living costs.

Debt scare

To make matters worse, she said that this year's grant had still not been paid, even though term had already started.

And she said that students, who did not have regular earnings, were given credit cards, which they used to build up thousands of pounds of borrowing.

"As a parent, this amount of debt scares me," she said.

Mr Clarke, pushed onto the defensive at an event designed to sell his policies, told Ms Krall, "I hear what you're saying" - and repeated his commitment to making sure that money should not be an obstacle to poorer families gaining access to higher education.

Responding later on Monday to the parents' debt worries, Mr Clarke said "the concerns expressed today by Ms Krall and Ms Northover are precisely why we are reforming the current system of fees to make it fairer".

Subsidies

"We are scrapping up-front fees. Graduates will only re-pay when they can afford to do so and at a rate linked to their income and loans will continue to be heavily subsidised by the government."

Charles Clarke tried to persuade parents that his fees plan is fair

He also promised further fee exemptions and grants for students, which could see youngsters from the least well-off families not paying any of the proposed £3,000 in tuition fees.

This move could affect the lowest-earning third of young people.

"We are also re-introducing the grant, bringing in meaningful bursaries and looking at more ways in which we can help children from the poorest backgrounds," said Mr Clarke.

But the message on tuition fees and student loans still seemed to struggle to get across.

Another parent, Janet Northover, whose son is head boy at the school, says that she is worried about the expense and risk of debt that will be involved in his plans to study to be a lawyer.

And she said that the whole question of fees and the likely costs of a degree course were not at all clear to parents, who wanted to support their children, but who were "panicking about the money".

Parents would still want their children to go to university, she said, but there was a need for more clarity about the support and a need to cut the levels of debt.

What's it like?

Mr Clarke was visiting the school as part of the Aim Higher roadshow, where pupils are encouraged to think about the benefits of going to university.

Pupils wanted to know what university would be like for them

A video showed pupils that the worlds of television and pop music are staffed by people who had gone to university, using interviews with back-stage staff at Top of the Pops.

And also selling the message that university could be fun was a list of courses that could be taken, printed on the roadshow trailer.

These included computer games technology, garden design, yacht design and equine studies.

The roadshow had also given a group of 13 and 14 year olds a chance to talk to the education secretary about what going to university might mean to them.

Mr Clarke told them about his gap year, when he had travelled across the United States on greyhound buses, and that some his best friends were still people he had met from his student days.

In turn, the children - who already were aiming high, with plans to be singers, a pathologist and a DJ - told him of their concerns - would they miss their families, how long would it take to get a degree, what kind of "dormitories" would they stay in?

Confusion

But Mr Clarke accepted that one of the biggest problems remained fears over the cost of higher education.

And he said that it was still a challenge to persuade parents and students that the proposed shake-up of student funding will produce a fairer and more accessible system.

By attending such a question and answer session he signalled his readiness to tackle directly the suspicion - and often downright confusion - over the government's plans for tuition fees.

"We are listening to people's concerns which is why I was personally down at the Aim Higher roadshow today," said Mr Clarke.

"But it is clear to me that our package when fully understood meets a lot of people's fears about the current system."

Student union leaders promised the education secretary more protests, saying that he should "brace himself" for a demonstration against fees this weekend.

"Many parents rightly fear that their offspring will not be able to fulfil their potential because they inherited brains rather than money. We need a higher education system that doesn't discriminate against any student," said Many Telford, president of the National Union of Students.