£21,000: The Cost of an Education in England

10.10.18pm GMT Wed 9th Feb 2005

The Liberal Democrats in government in Scotland, led by Jim Wallace, have achieved a major victory by delivering on our manifesto promise and abolishing tuition fees north of the border for Scottish students.

The Lib Dem deal for students in Scotland:

• Tuition fees scrapped - for both higher and further education students

• Maintenance grants reintroduced

• Extra money for mature students and people going through further education

• 50% of students exempted from graduate contributions, including mature and disabled students

• £51 million extra a year on student funding

Now Liberal Democrats are campaigning to get tuition fees axed in the rest of the UK and against Labour's plans to introduce top up fees. The Labour Government has already hit students hard:

• Labour has hit students with tuition fees - making students £3,075 worse off, except in Scotland where we have got them abolished

• Labour wants to let universities increase tuition fees even further

• Labour has abolished grants - costing poorer students up to £5,000 on top of tuition fees

Government sources have admitted that the average student will leave university with debt reaching a staggering £21,000. Councillor Donna Bradbury commented, "This increased cost is resulting in less applications for university places, especially from the less well off. This is clearly wrong. Students in Tynedale deserve the same deal as their neighbours over the border. Its outrageous that a Labour government is doing this."

For details of the Lib Dem campaign to end tuition fees and our petition to protest about it, visit www.scraptuitionfees.com