Placard-waving Oxford University Students held a demonstration protesting against tuition fees.

Dozens of students gathered at Clarendon Building, in Broad Street, Oxford, for the protest organised by pressure group Students Against Fees in Education.

They were campaigning against a rule introduced by Oxford University that non-payers do not qualify for "residency" which means they are not eligible to sit final exams. There were shouts of: "No ifs, no buts, no education cuts," "Tony Blair is a Tory, he wears a Tory hat and when he sees our grant cheques he says I'm having that."

Group member, Laura Plaskell-Brown, 20, a St Hilda's student who was also prominent in last year's anti-fees campaign, said: "I paid in the end last year because there were only six non-payers and it was easy for them to single us out.

"This time there are about 120 non-payers. Over the summer they introduced a rule that if you don't pay you don't qualify for residency and you cannot sit your degree. "We think the residency requirements are illegal. I live in Cowley Road, out of college. How is my residency affected by whether I have paid the Government £1,000?

"Obviously a lot of people have worked hard to get to university and we don't want anyone to ruin their education because of this. We are not about making people suffer. We are very optimistic that we will be successful."

Tim Boyd, junior common room president at St John's College, said: "The residency requirement is what we are particularly against because the loans are being paid in instalments so there may be a real reason why students cannot pay their fees. It is quite hidden and vicious and this is the only university that we know of in the country that has this condition." A University spokesman said: "The sanctions which we can impose may be viewed as significant, but making a decision not to pay the means-tested contribution towards the tuition fee which students owe is an equally significant step.

"However we hope that our students will appreciate as they did last year that they must pay their contribution if they are to continue their studies uninterrupted"

Story date: Monday 25 October

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