Rather than allowing the government and supporters of higher student fees to set the agenda NUS should be seizing every opportunity to make the case for increased government, not student, investment in higher education.

We have a powerful case but it needs to be made. Just two years in to the current funding system, debt to the Student Loans Company alone now totals over £18bn. Students are now forced to borrow more than three times as much as ten years ago with many facing debts of up to £30,000 on graduation.

Crucially, we need to be challenging the government’s myth that the impact of higher fees has been positive before it takes root. For example, last week the EducationGuardian ran this article revealing that attempts to widen participation in higher education are failing despite the hundreds of millions of pounds being spent.

Even prior to the introduction of top-up fees, research by the Policy Studies Institute warned that students from the poorest backgrounds are most fearful of getting into debt and those who are debt averse are four times less likely to go to university than those whose attitudes are more relaxed.

Charging students for their education will inevitably deter those who can least afford to pay. Any attempt to lift the current £3,000 cap and allow even higher fees will not only burden students with even greater debt, it will also hinder the government’s own stated aim of widening participation in universities in order to meet the needs of the economy.

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