Students on the breadline

They say their problems have been ignored so far by the Labour Government and students at Bolton Institute are taking part in today's National Day of Student Hardship.

The day is organised by the National Union of Students, and colleges nationwide are making their views known on the problems caused by the implementation of tuition fees.

Bolton's MPs - Brian Iddon, Ruth Kelly and David Crausby - have been sent a large batch of Bolton protests by post.

Bolton Institute Student Union President Jim Goldstraw said that the nationwide situation has got so bad that one student in five is dropping out of their course due to financial difficulties.

He said: "Every week I have students coming to me for help. Our Welfare Service is busier than ever with people who have problems paying off their debts."

Jim said the problem has escalated this year due to a combination of compulsory tuition fees and lack of efficiency within the Student loans Company.

The Student Loans Company, which supplements a student's income, has become a major financial source for many.

But Jim says a loan which normally takes three weeks to process is often taking more than three times as long - some as long as 13 weeks.

To a student that is almost one semester without cash.

And, says Jim, the situation has gone far beyond the usual stereotype of 'hard-up student', as many leave their courses after three years not just in debt like many before them but in serious financial trouble.

A student can leave Bolton Institute with a debt of £9,000 - not including tuition fees.

Jim explained: "Course fees stand at an average of £1,000 a year - a figure which is to be found prior to starting - and student loans are up to £2,700 each year."

The college does have an Access Fund for students who are suffering 'exceptional hardship', but in order to qualify students must take out the full student loan.

Jim says the Access Fund has even been increased this year but it is still "not enough".

And, as thousands of students are "at the end of their tether" they have vowed to make their MPs - and Education Secretary David Blunkett - take notice and appreciate the strength of feeling in Bolton.

The Student Union claims the Labour Government's complacency is down to their confident majority in the Commons, and the union says ministers have done nothing to help since they were lobbied in November on a Day of Action.

Joining 900 other institutions in the country, Bolton Institute students are supporting today's National Day of Student Hardship by posting a printed statement to the three MPs which points out their financial suffering.

Also, a group of students are leafleting the town centre this afternoon in tramps' clothing, in a bid to gain support from Bolton people.

Jim said: "This is not a radical campaign - it is just the facts. We just want people to realise that it is an every day struggle that has reached epidemic proportions."

David Crausby MP said: "I am always sympathetic to students' arguments about poverty because they are usually correct."

However, he maintains that the introduction of tuition fees is a "step in the right direction" towards bringing MORE students to university education.

If the legislation had not been passed, he argues, the amount of cash available and consequently the number of enrolments would have decreased.

Despite being in favour of tuition fees in principle, Mr Crausby believes that the current system is not as practical as first thought.

He said: "I would like to see the earning level - the point at which parents have to pay - pushed up."

He said that poorer families were being penalised - and prevented from attending university - when the aim was to increase the number of students.

One student who knows all about being poor is 20 year old Lyndsey Oglaza, who says that everyone she knows is in exactly the same predicament.

She is in her third and final year at Bolton Institute, when the academic work is at its most stressful, but she holds down two part time jobs working up to 30 hours a week - just to cover her daily living costs.

Lyndsey, who also works full time during the summer, said: "Working so many hours is the last thing I want to do in my last year, but I have to do it."

Her financial situation is so bad, she claims, that her college work is suffering.

She said: "The job comes first because I need the money. My attendance is going worse and at the end of the semester I'm behind with my college work."

But in some ways Lyndsey, who studies Theatre Studies and Creative Writing, is lucky.

Thanks to her "lucky" timing she has escaped paying tuition fees as the legislation came into force while she was already studying at Bolton and applied to new students only.

She says that if she had to pay course fees as well, she would not be able to cope.

She is awarded a grant from her home town, Oldham LEA, which is just enough to cover the rent on her Castle Street home - 10 students share the house at £40 a week each excluding bills.

And with "banks pushing overdrafts and credit card offers" many of her friends are sent court letters for non-payment of debts.

Lyndsey herself has accumulated a hefty graduation debt of around £5,000 in Student Loans and an overdraft of £1,400.

She said: "When there is no food in and you can't go shopping, it's so easy to fall into the trap. And then you can't get out."

At one stage she was so short of cash she had to apply to the college's Hardship Fund.

Lyndsey said: "I've applied for three student loans, receive a grant - and I've still no money!"

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