Brexit Hitting Too Close To Home
Just as you start convincing yourself that things cannot get any worse in 2020 and that you’ve reached rock bottom, the universe somehow finds a way to prove you wrong. It’s been more than a month since the Minister of State for Universities, Michelle Donelan, announced the devastating news that “EU, other EEA and Swiss nationals will no longer be eligible for home fee status, undergraduate, postgraduate and advanced learner financial support from Student Finance England for courses starting in academic year 2021/22.”
As a current student from the EU, this is bitterly disappointing, and I haven’t been alone in eagerly waiting for updates, only to be disappointed by the lack of them. Not only will European students not be paying the current amount, but equally as devastating is the news that they will not be able to get a student loan for their studies – in essence blocking students from accessing the British tertiary education system. We all knew Brexit was coming (and it’s not looking very soft from any perspective), but I guess the optimistic and idealist within me was hoping for some type of middle ground, that benefits both the UK & EU.
“in the past, we have shown that higher fees and no more access to student loans could risk a decline of around 60% in the number of EU students coming to the UK to study. If that happens, our universities will be less diverse and less open to influences from other countries”
- Nick Hillman, director of HEPI
Denying the eligibility for home fee status to international students will undoubtedly have an immeasurable impact on universities around the UK and on EU students. It will affect all aspects of university life, diminish our diversity and culture, and many societies that celebrate these will simply go extinct. Nick Hillman, the director of HEPI (Higher Education Policy Institute), said that this announcement would “be seen as bad news inside universities” and he couldn’t be more right. He also said that “in the past, we have shown that higher fees and no more access to student loans could risk a decline of around 60% in the number of EU students coming to the UK to study. If that happens, our universities will be less diverse and less open to influences from other countries” which should not come as a shock to anyone.
That 60% decrease, if realised, would be no mistake – it would be the consequence of conscious decisions, which have been taken to alienate the UK from the rest of Europe. It’s an action taken to further widen the gap between the ones who can afford it and the ones that can’t – a gap individual institutions are trying to narrow; seemingly in vain. It’s yet another way to ensure that rich people get the education they desire because they have the money for it whereas people who do not will have to go to a place they can afford. Education is a right, not a privilege, and it should not depend on the amount of money one has, but on the merit of the student. This is only enforcing the opposite.
We will have to wait and see what the exact advancements on the original statement of the government are going to be, but I think it is safe to assume that we as European people will not be regarded as home students and will have to pay a much higher fee because of it. The fee international students are paying right now equates to approximately £40,000 a year. Forty thousand pounds. Most people cannot even pay the £9,000 a year and have to get a student loan and many of us also have a maintenance loan to make sure we are able to live in London. The thought that I would have to pay almost 4.5x the price a year to get the same education baffles me and is frankly terrifying, simply because I wouldn’t be able to come and study here. My future would be so different, and it would not be the one I wanted for myself. The worst thing about this situation - that a person who is less capable than me but better-off than me would be able to do so.
We have reached out to the University for a comment on their views with regards to the situation and this decision, as soon as the initial statement was made from the Government. We are still waiting to hear back from them.
