Higher Education Fees

Rehman Chishti Excerpts

Thursday 9th December 2010 Commons Chamber

[Rehman Chishti (Gillingham and Rainham) (Con)]

I rise to support the Government’s proposals on the basis that they are fair, just and progressive. I have formed that opinion on the basis of my own personal experience, having gone to a local secondary modern high school in a tough catchment area which closed the year I left, and having been the first in my family to go to university. I am still paying back the tuition fees from the Bar vocational course that I took before qualifying as a barrister. I was also an executive member of the National Union of Students in Wales between 1998 and 1999.

In the light of that experience, do I feel that the Government’s proposals will allow students from all different backgrounds to go to university and reach their potential? The answer is that I most certainly do feel that anyone who wants to go to university will be able to do so, and will be able to reach their true potential. The concepts of aspiration, hard work, determination, dedication and perseverance are crucial to getting someone to university, through university and beyond.

[Paul Uppal]

I come from a working class background—seven children in a two-up, two-down. My parents took two jobs and I did not qualify for a grant because they supported my extended family in India. I worked my way through university. Is it not the case that it is not money, but individual personal ambition and aspiration that drives people?

[Rehman Chishti]

I thank my hon. Friend for making that pertinent point. It is not simply about money, but about aspiration, commitment, dedication and determination to go to university. My hon. Friend makes an excellent point.

[Chris Bryant]

May I put a slightly different version of the facts to the hon. Gentleman? By the end of a three-year, perhaps four-year course, somebody could have debts of £40,000 or £45,000. For many people in my constituency and in many mining constituencies in this land, that is more than the value of their home. That is the equation that goes through their mind.

[Rehman Chishti]

The hon. Gentleman makes a pertinent point. I was at university in Wales and I know the community there. However, the key element is that there are no up-front fees and that is why the motion is a good one.

One has to consider the overall package rather than single elements for its progressiveness, fairness and justness. As well as there being no up-front fees, the increase in the threshold from £15,000 to £21,000 has to be a good thing. There will be a cap at £6,000 and then at £9,000, linked to exceptional circumstances. Some of the highest-performing universities will have to go out and ensure that students from less privileged backgrounds take part. That is absolutely right and fair.

[Richard Graham]

Does my hon. Friend agree that, a student who goes on to earn £25,000 a year—the average salary—will repay that loan at the rate of £30 a month for 30 years, and that that represents a substantially good deal?

[Rehman Chishti]

My hon. Friend makes a very good point. To ensure that students from different backgrounds can go to the some of the highest-performing universities, we must also make sure that students from less privileged backgrounds have better grades at GCSE and at A-level. I therefore welcome the initiative of the Secretary of State for Education on the pupil premium and the student premium as a way forward.

Increasing the maintenance grant from £2,900 to £3,250 is a good thing for students from families earning under £25,000. Students whose parents earn above £25,000 and up to £40,000 will still be able to get a partial maintenance grant. Beyond that, those from families earning £42,000 to £60,000 can be given loans so that they can go to university. Students in my constituency who go to study in London can have London weighting paid on their maintenance grants.

Part-time students were treated unfairly and unjustly for so long. They often got a raw deal—and they were often mature students and disabled students. It was wrong that they could not get funding to ensure that they could go to university and fulfil their potential. Our policy on that is absolutely right.

It is right and proper that money should follow the student so that universities have to improve student experiences and ensure that they improve the quality of education.

The previous Government’s policy of 50% going to university was wrong and misplaced. Instead, they should have ensured more vocational qualifications and apprenticeships because we all have different abilities and talents, and they must all be nurtured. In essence, we have to look at the reason for being in this mess: the previous Government’s mismanagement of the economy. [Hon. Members: “Oh!”] That will not do. We have one of the worst financial deficits in the G20—the legacy that the previous Government left us.