Sir – The Government is proposing to raise tuition fees to as much as £9,000 for university students — a move that could have a devastating financial impact on thousands of students and their families in Oxford.
All students will suffer, but those wanting to become doctors will be particularly badly hit. Medicine is an intensive and expensive course that lasts five or six years, leaving little space for part-time work.
If fees are raised, students could face graduation debts of £70,000 — a terrible financial burden for individuals as well as their families, who are already providing an estimated £16,000 in support.
As a medical student at Oxford University, I know that many on my course would not have been able to study medicine with these costs, especially as Oxford is an expensive city in which to live and the course lasts six years. If the Government is able to drive this increase through Parliament, families could be forced to make difficult choices about whether they can afford to send their children to medical school. If this happens, the NHS and patients will also lose out on the skills of talented individuals Readers of The Oxford Times can help campaign against this fee rise by writing to their MP.
William Seligman, BMA Medical Student Representative, Magdalen College, Oxford
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