NUS welcomes landmark APPG Report

NUS welcomes the APPG for Students report for recognising the widespread suffering of students caused by the cost-of-living crisis. The APPG’s conclusions vindicate NUS’ own findings, alongside the struggles of students that are well documented in multiple surveys published this year.

Students are the doctors, nurses and workers of tomorrow and yet as evidenced by the APPG’s report, the Government has done little to alleviate the pressures they are under, which while causing suffering right now also does untold damage to a generation of working adults. The report rightly calls for the government to ensure that cost of living relief made available to the public is also accessible to students, which the government has woefully failed to do so far. 

But more significantly, the report recognises that the current model of student financing is not working for students from all backgrounds. Only radical and sustainable changes in higher education can ensure students meet their full potential and can fully contribute to our country’s prosperity. For this reason, we are pleased to see the APPG also echo our call for the Government to restore the real value of maintenance support and bring back maintenance grants.

We are pleased that over 70 students’ unions and 800 students submitted evidence which demonstrates the widespread impact and urgency on this issue felt across the country.

Students are rightly frustrated, and our voices are too loud to ignore. The UK Government must take these recommendations on board. The UK Government must devolve out to the nations responsibility over funding, so that they can make the changes the devolved governments desire. Nationally, grants and the abolition of tuition fees have to be the beginning of a new radical vision for education and with a General Election around the corner, we call on all parties to commit to fund higher and further education properly and invest in all students so they can maximise their potential.