I will (if all goes to plan and my sacrifices to AQA are accepted) be starting university this year. This, of course, gives me the extra special privilege of being in the first year to get hit with tripled tuition fees.
Of course, I'm subjectively bitter about this. But I have a couple of objective bones to pick:
1) I thought implementing any kind of law took fucking years. Seriously, I read an article recently that said experts estimate that it will take 57 years before women receive equal pay. But it takes barely ONE YEAR to make me pay £9000 pounds a year to get a degree, cut my EMA payments by a THIRD, making it pretty fucking difficult for me to get to college (especially in combination with the fare increases) and cut funding for schools to make it less than a bundle of laughs to be in college, because we've had to close most of our toilets due to lack of cleaners and half the number of A Levels we offer (though that might just be because so many people failed them and brought down the grade curve). Did you see that sentence? It was fucking endless. Like the problems we are all currently faced with. That metaphor was weak.
2) This is being imposed on us by people who did not have to go through it themselves, and paid very little for their education (well, the ones that went to Eton had to pay a fair bit, but that is a whole different kettle of inbred, socially out of touch 1 percent-ers). Is that fair? No. Really no.
3) These cuts seem to be slashing all the wrong tapestries. Granted, I saw today that the army is being cut down, that seems fair enough. I think it absolutely sucks that so many people are going to lose their jobs, and I hope something will be done for them, but if we can lose anything I guess its the thing that kills people. Cutting the NHS, taking steps towards privatisation- THIS I AM LESS HAPPY ABOUT.
4) Who is none of this going to bother? The people who are already rich. They can pay these new costs without breaking a sweat. Fuck, I know private school kids in the year above who actually took a gap year and went travelling, because paying the tripled fees is no problem for them. The people taking a hit here are the people who need help during the recession. This is, firstly, unfair, and, secondly, illogical. Man I love commas. You can tell I spoke that sentence in William Shatner's voice in my head.
