Another item marked off the to do list...

For anyone who doesn't know, the UK is going through some pretty terrible times. Like most universities did in the states, the tuition fees have to rise due to cuts in education. Coming from a family of educators, I realize how important education really is. Heck, I've been in the education system for 20 years non-stop if you count pre-school and learning to read at home before I even entered kindergarten. (If not then its only 17 years... but still I have another 3 ahead of me) This is all I know, this is all I know how to do, going to class is what I do best. It's my fulltime job and I try really hard to be sure to do well and realize that especially college is for education, not just a social life.

Well here comes the problem. The UK tuition fees have been capped at the University level at somewhere below 3,290 pounds a year. That's only about $6,000 a year. For my last year at JMU my tuition was somewhere in the ball park of $7000. Which really isn't that bad for in-state tuition, and JMU is considered somewhere in the middle of the tuition fees world. That did not include the $1,200 I had to pay on books and lab fees, etc. But it overall isn't too shabby.

Now here is the problem... with the cuts in education that the government has been creating, there is now an issue of how to fund the university. They decided to raise said cap of fees to 9,000 pounds a year... which is about $14,000 a year give or take a few hundred bucks. Thats kinda crazy, and the worst part about it is that the government loans they are offering aren't increasing with the tuition cap. Therefore:

Problem

So there have been loads of protests, and recently I got to go to a bit of a sit in at here at Cardiff. It started as a trip the library to work on my biology coursework that is due in soon. I was in the silent section of the library, 2 floors up from where the protest was occurring and still I could hear them.  As an international student, there is no cap, they just make me pay an absurd amount and I just say "OK, sounds great to live in another country and get the degree I want. Why not?" I figure, they might think about raising mine as well, and its on my bucket list to attend a protest. Its like the gods were trying to tell me to do this right now!  The sit it was relatively peaceful, and there was a lot of chanting, but it was nice all the same. They walked into City Centre and literally stopped traffic here in the capital of Wales. As I told my sister later that day "might as well buy me a beret, learn french, and spend all my time sitting in coffee houses fueling up for the next fire that I plan on fanning"

But at least there weren't any rubber bullets or tear gas. This was a protest, not to be confused with the JMU Springfest Riots of 2010. Now that was some crazy s***. I'm really hoping that thing here don't get that bad. The student protests have been going on for weeks while the JMU riots went on for less than 12 hours. Lets see who can do the most damage. Right now JMU is still in the lead with the most number of vandalized cars, accidents involving police dogs, and best youtube videos. But JMU also looses because it was just a drunken fest, while at least the students here are rioting for a cause. Recently, students have been getting arrested in higher numbers in London, but really considering the amount of protestors and as of today 3 national days of protesting, not including the sit ins, and the vote due before Christmas in Parliament, I really would like to see if these protests pay off. If you want real information on the UK tuition fees, I say go to BBC and click on the education tab. If you want my version, watch the video's below...


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qq-4qcJ53QU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wexfpL9yuII