Students slam debt sell-off
Notts students protest against student loan privatisation
Nottingham students will take part in a national week-long protest against the government’s plan to privatise student loans.
Over 50 campuses nationwide will see action this week, with uni rivalries quashed for the common cause.
The protests follow the government’s decision to sell a staggering £890m worth of student loans to a debt management consortium for just £160m last year.
Students from activist groups such as the the Left Society have delivered an open letter to Vice-Chancellor Prof. David Greenaway demanding he oppose the sell-off.
A government report leaked last year revealed that to make student loans profitable, private firms would have to increase the cap on interest for repayments or do away with it altogether.
Students in Exeter have already occupied a university building, as well as calling for the campaigning to be stepped up.
Not to be outdone by our beach-dwelling counterparts, a march from Portland has been planned this Friday to deliver a petition to the Vice-Chancellors office – if anyone actually knows where it is.
Calum McGregor, of the Nottingham Young Greens, slammed the proposed sell-off, saying: “Young people, as usual, are being sacrificed to guarantee profits for private firms.”