Students from Solent Students' Union March on Parliament

Students from Solent Students’ Union will march on parliament on Saturday 19^th in a national demonstration for free, accessible education.

The marchers are calling for increased funding for colleges and a reversal of a decision by government to increase tuition fees. Funding for colleges has been repeatedly cut since 2010, causing many courses to close and jobs to be lost.

Tuition fees are set to increase yet again despite being tripled in 2012. Students now graduate with over £50,000 in debt.

Megan Maddex from Solent Students’ Union said: “We are committed to ensuring that we support student’s best interests, and the incremental rise in tuition fees has huge potential to put students off furthering their studies at university.

At Solent, we have a focus on equal opportunities for all our students and potential students, and the rising cost of education and lack of funding will have a huge negative impact on this”.

Samantha Buxey, a current student said: “Students need all the support we can get in the current economic state and with student fees going up that's only turning more students away from education. Education should be for everyone and with making it too expensive to attend university many students are turning away from continuing their studies and therefore not growing to their full potential or following their dreams.”