£28,000 University fees

IT HAS been revealed that some universities may charge up to £28,000 a year in tuition.

Protests against higher fees,  in London earlier on in the year

This comes in a bid to let English universities charge the same to British applicants as they do to those applying from outside the EU.

The Best universities are thought to be charging up to £12,000 for arts courses, £18,00 for the sciences and £28,000 for those wanting to study medicine.

Louise Frances, 19, a medicine student at St Georges, said: ‘’ I know medicine is a difficult course to get on and is highly academic, but I think by increasing the price by so much its not going to achieve much. More and more people will be dissuaded from uni because of the cost. It’s just going to make education hierarchical and that’s not how it should be. “

Mr. Willets, university minister, said: “There is no question of wealthy students being able to buy a place, access to university must be based on ability to learn not ability to pay.”

Jo Lawlor, a lecturer at Chichester University, said: “When I went to uni I almost didn’t go because of the price and the financial burden on my family. Now I’m working at a university, I see and hear how many people almost didn’t come because of the price as it stands now. If it goes up by this much I can see students choosing to go straight into work instead of carrying on in their education.”

Party's over in Portsmouth

A HOUSE-PARTY got out of hand in Portsmouth on Friday as the details were posted online without the host knowing. 

Emma Roper, a student from Portsmouth, was hosting the party to honour her 20th birthday. However, unknown to her a friend of a friend had posted the details on social networking site Facebook. What should have been a small party of around 20 people escalated to a party of 100+ party-goers. 

Miss Roper, a business student, said: ''I can't believe it happened to me, you hear about things like this all the time but you never think it'll happen to you and now it has. If I ever get up enough courage to throw another party i'll definitely be more careful with who I invite next time. This has ended up costing me a fortune and my landlord is not happy. ''

The party began at 9.30pm and got out of hand at around 1.00am, at which time the police were called. Melissa Jones, 19, was at the party, she said: ''It got quite scary at some points, a few fights broke out and you could just see the house getting wrecked, their were people being sick and passed out and I think it was good that the police turned up when they did as I could tell that Emma and her housemates were struggling to keep it under control.'' 

The Royal Wedding- The student perspective

THE Royal Wedding was an event watched by a global audience of billions. But what did you students think of the Royal Wedding that gave us a day off from studying.

It has been reported that throughout the day Facebook was updated 74 times a second, with people weighing in on the action, making it the sixth biggest web event in history. Harvey Wigg, 19, posted on his Facebook page, saying: '' Didn't think I’d be in to this wedding malarkey, but you kinda get swept up in the hysteria.'' Jasmin Dudden, 20, a Student from Bournemouth, said: ''Kate looks beautiful, a true princess, I want that dress!''

Gary Wright, a lecturer from Canterbury, asked his class of students a few days before the wedding if they were planning on watching the wedding, to which all of them replied with a resounding no. When asked again after the wedding, they all said they had watched it. Vicky Chessum, one of his students, said: ''Like alot of people my age I didn't think i'd watch it, i thought it was a lot of hype about not much. But my mum had it on and was gushing about it and you definitely do get swept up in the romance of it all, every girl dreams of her perfect wedding day, and although Kate's was watched by billions, you can tell it was her dream.''

Pricey premiums

INSURANCE premiums have sorn and this means higher than usual insurance for teens across the UK. With many young drivers being driven off the road because of it .

This year it was reported that some young drivers are to face quotes of up to £27,000 a year, with the more typical rates of £2,000-4,000. This is because the age group are thought to be ''high risk'' in particular males. It is because of this that many companies issue such high quotes, in a bid to dissuade young drivers.

Daniel Jeffery, 19, a student from Cheltenham, said: '' I passed my test about 14 months ago and I was lucky enough to have my dads help with the first years insurance, but when it came to re-insuring this year I was quoted £1800. With the cost of uni and living I was in no position to be able to afford to run my car another year. So for the time being my driving has come to a halt.''

The Consumer Council, told BBC online, that ''young drivers are facing a 51% hike in premiums.''

Francine Walker, 19, a student from Canterbury, said: ''I don't think its fair that we get such a bad deal from car insurance companies, I know some young drivers are irresponsible but not all of us are and it should be down to us to prove that to the insurance companies and not have them just assume the worst.''

Statistics do however support insurance companies views. With a fifth of new drivers being involved in a collision within their first six months driving.

Summer Sizzler

STUDENTS are flocking to there nearest beach as temperatures sore over their Easter holidays, amid fears that the few hot days we've been having is the closest we will see to a summer this year.

With jam packed beaches at all the popular student resorts like Brighton and Bournemouth, the question on all parents lips is, don't you have work to be doing?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk

Becky Pollack, 20, a student from Brighton, said: ''I'm loving this weather, and it's such perfect timing for our Easter holidays. I have an essay I have to write and exams in the next few weeks, but I’m combining both and taking it all to the beach.''

With students heading back to their Universities in the coming weeks, they are hoping that the glorious weather will continue as they are about to face their toughest term at uni this year. Rianna James, 21, a third year student from Exeter, said: '' This break has been a godsend before the madness begins again in two weeks. I have dissertation deadlines, exams and other coursework due in and if the sun was still shining my mood will be a little less stressed and gloomy and bit a more positive. I think sun always has a good effect on morale.''

Experts say Easter weekend and the Royal Wedding weekend are set to be scorchers, with temperatures set to hit 24'C in some places.

Check on the weather in your area here.

A pack of Wolves set up home on campus.... or do they?

A GROUP of students from Cheltenham have pulled off quite an elaborate prank that had the others stumped. For about 5 minutes.

A picture taken from the Facebook warning page. 

Monday morning, students of Park Campus, Gloucestershire University, awoke to a warning from an email address glos-student-alerts@live.co.uk alerting them to the fact that a pack of wolves had gotten on to there campus and set up home. With the email stating: ‘’ We would advise students to carry a large rump steak with them at all times to be used to distract the wolves in the event of a confrontation, and to give you enough time to make your escape."

 Students were stumped. As a campus set amongst acres of beautiful land it could be believable, however the senders of the email also set up a Facebook group with further warnings and a set of unbelievable photos, that had clearly been photo-shopped of lifted from Google images, supposedly taken on campus. This is when students believed it was untrue and started with the jokes.

A picture taken from the Facebook warning page.

Jon Love, 19, a student from Cheltenham, said: “ I genuinely believed it, that might make me gullible but I don’t care. The email looked genuine, although the bit about the rump steak did put a bit of doubt in my mind. But the Facebook page was a step too far, not many university officials would do that and now we’re just having fun with it. We don’t know who set up the prank, but its given us a few dayss entertainment.” 

The university released an official email stating: “ A group calling themselves ‘Student Alert Team’ have been randomly emailing students with entirely fictitious information. The email address they use to send this information is glos-student-alert@live.co.uk. These are spam emails and should be ignored and disregarded.

Money saving travel techniques

WITH many students heading cross-country to attend university they need to be able to get home. On those quiet weekends, reading weeks, holidays or family birthdays. But with the rising price of travel and everything in between, it’s becoming increasingly difficult for students to be able to afford to get home.

There are initiatives out there such as Student Rail Cards in order to save students a little bit of money. But costing £25 for the year and saving a few quid here and there has students questioning whether it’s worth the money.

Kat Hughes, 19, a student in Liverpool, but is from Worthing in Sussex, said: “ Depending when I want to come home or go back to uni it can cost me up £120 pounds. I know it’s a long way but students just don’t have that kind of money and I think rail companies should be aware of that. I have applied for a student rail card now, not sure it will save me much but every penny helps I guess.”

To save money on trains, remember to book as much in advance as possible and not travel at peak times.

www.nationalexpress.com/coach/index.cfm

Trains have always been popular with students mainly for their speed. However as prices sore some students are turning to coaches. Daniel Jeffery, 19, a student from Cheltenham said: “ To get home or to get to my girlfriend in Canterbury I usually travel by coach, unless I’m really organised and book train tickets way in advance, but to book the journey in one it can cost me up to £60. But I’ve found if I book the two parts of my journey separately I can save a lot of money.  So I book Cheltenham to London, London to Brighton tickets and save some of my precious student loan.”

Festival Frenzy

Many students across the country were left disappointed on the March 4, as they were unable to get the hottest ticket in town- V Festival. However 80,000 people did get tickets!

The tickets were due to go on sale at 9am Monday morning, but as many students found as the clock stroked nine they were seeing the words sold out almost immediately. With it being reported that both locations tickets sold out in three minutes.

V festival is held in two central locations across the country one in the south, in Chelmsford,  and one up north, in Staffordshire. It has built up a good reputation over years gaining headliners such as Rihanna, Eminem, David Guetta and Florence and the Machine. 

Francine Walker, 19, student from Canterbury, said: ‘’ I went to V last the last two years and didn’t have any problems getting a ticket. As the years go by it just gets more and more popular until it’s virtually impossible to get a ticket. I think the whole system is really unfair.’’

With a price tag of £175 its hardly within the student budget yet it is one of the most coveted festival tickets among students, along with Reading and Glastonbury, which also sold out in a number of minutes. 


Within minutes of them selling out, the tickets were appearing on sites such  ebay, getmein.com and viagog.com. These are sites where people can sell festival tickets, usually for a vast profit. So if you're still desperate for a ticket at whatever the price then click here and try your luck!