Coming Clean: our Hidden
Course Costs campaign
Izzy John, Welfare Officer
Context of campaign
• Tuition fee rise and potential impact
• Arbitrary increases in PG and International
Fees
• NUS “Pound in your Pocket” and “Come
Clean” campaign
• On-going issues with SLC
• General increase in students working parttime whilst studying
Warwick-specific
• 2010/11 – wins in terms of bursaries; however
failed to meet access targets
• Implementing maximum fee cap of £9000
• University desire to focus on the “student
experience”
• Financial costs a consistent feature of student
feedback
• 600 responses to NUS Survey
Our priority campaign
• Largely “behind the scenes” – our own data
gathering and research
• How much does it really cost to be a student
at Warwick? Accommodation, course texts,
transport, food on campus.
• 4 Union policies – Action on Access; Against
Tuition Fees, Hidden Course Costs, The £ in
your Pocket
NUS Week of Action
Concept: a bit
more hard
hitting, visual
campaign
Wrote to VC
and Academic
Registrar
“Costs cage” in
central piazza
NUS online receipt
totalizer and paper
receipts
2 AMEs
Posters in SU
and all halls
Slogans
• “I think the University should continue to invest in
bursaries ”
• “I think it’s unfair that I have to pay for textbooks on
top of my tuition fees”
• “I think there should be more means-tested support
available for students whilst they’re studying”
• “I think the cost of travel to compulsory placements
should be included in my tuition fees”
• “I think all departments should have a certain number
of free printer credits for each student”
Pros
•
•
•
•
Very simple and low cost
Engaging and relevant
Visual (facebook)
Tied into an existing
campaign as well as the
week of action
• Good feedback from
some students
• Good way to keep the ball
rolling on costs issue –
can function as a
longstanding campaign
Cons
• Timing (last week of term,
everyone very tired and
busy!)
• Difficulty with cage
• Hard to follow up on
immediately afterwards
• Inconsistency with
receipts (types of student,
duration of costs)
• Some students didn’t feel
it was relevant to them
Outputs
• To date, over 160 submissions made to our
online receipt, totalling over £47,000
• 76 paper receipts filled out
• About 50 letters sent to 3 different MPs
• 7 MPs lobbied directly in Parliament
Next steps
• Inputting data (a lot of it!) and determining
trends
• Persuading and influencing (compare to other
Universities, commitment from UUK/Guild HE)
• “Come Clean” lobby / writing to MPs
• OFFA Access Agreement
• Anecdotal pressure points (breakfast, uni cards).
Petition?
• Formulating recommendations
• Handover to new sabb team
Questions?
Comments?
Your campaigns / brainstorming
[email protected]