Maintenance grants: After protesting at unions, students need to take on Parliament, think like the Tories and seek the entire country’s support

'If we allow only those already within a position of privilege to access a university degree, we allow social mobility to stagnate'

(Scott Barbour/Getty Images)

In the wake of the decision to scrap maintenance grants, many students declared their relationship with Parliament was over and that their demands could now only be realised through campus protest, within their own communities. Parliament had ignored their attempts to lobby against the decision so, in protest, many appeared to call for the same to happen in return, to ignore the power Parliament holds to decide students’ future.

Maintenance grants were one of the only things which enabled students from disadvantaged backgrounds to access a university degree. Students from across the country are justifiably angry at this blatant attack on the poorest families within society.

Those who, before, could access a grant to support themselves through the expensive journey of higher education will now have to accept staggeringly high levels of debt, compared with their more fortunate peers. Backlash against this decision is vital - we need to make sure David Cameron knows we will not allow this fatal attack on social mobility to go unnoticed.

When asked where, in the Conservative manifesto, the plans to scrap maintenance grants was, Universities Minister Jo Johnson, highlighted page 35 where the reference noted how they wanted to ensure the “continuing success and stability” of higher education policy so the “interests of both students and taxpayers are fairly represented.”

This, for many, was telling of the Tories attitudes towards higher education policy, further emphasising how the issues which affect students are never going to be considered separately from the rest of the country. So perhaps, when we address the issues ourselves as students, we should - however horrible it may be as a proposition - think like the Tories, and also try to speak to the rest of the country.

Unfortunately, not many of us vote, an issue which obviously needs to be addressed but, while we don’t, our protest chants outside Parliament will probably not be listened to. The idea our voices can be heard and that our demands - including free education - can only be won within our own communities is flawed one. Not only because student communities are, unfairly, dismissed in the designing of Tory policy, but because access to higher education for anyone - no matter their wealth - is beneficial to not just our student community.

If we allow only those already within a position of privilege to access a university degree, we allow social mobility to stagnate. The importance of social mobility needs to be at the forefront of our message to the rest of the country, and it is only when we start spreading this message to those voters, for the Tories listen to, that we will start to make headway with our demands.

I, for one, am not at all arguing that we should stop protesting, Having taken part in many a protest, they are truly an incomparable power of force which unite like-minded people together to implement change. When they are picked up by the media - which crucially is not often enough - they spark debate and, most importantly, get the conversation going outside of the bubble of those directly affected.

Labour’s attempt to have an opposition day to annul the plans to axe maintenance grants failed; yet it was students’ unions who successfully lobbied the party to take such a move. This is evidence of the power we can have to influence action taken in Parliament. Turning our backs away now, because we didn’t get what we wanted, is beneficial to the Tories, not an attack.

As Baroness Garden of Frognal argued during the House of Lords debate on whether to ‘regret’ the Government’s decision on maintenance grants: “This was yet another debate the Government did not want to have that students forced them into holding. It was yet another opportunity to criticise their disregard for students’ wellbeing and mobilise opposition to their decision in Parliament.”

She continued: “Students across the country, through lobbying their MPs and Lords, have made sure they have not been ignored”. The debate may have been lost, but the voices of students were once again heard within Westminster.

Marches and protests are all important to spread the message but, unless we then transfer that energy to engaging with Parliament and, specifically, the campaign of the opposition, nothing will change. Unfortunately, the country will not be won round by a small number of students with placards standing out in the cold on the steps of their students’ union. We desperately need to take our message further than these steps.

So far, during this government, we have seen them make U-turns, including with tax credits. These only occurred because the opposition to their plans was spread across a diverse range of communities, the force of which was too much for George Osborne to ignore.

By all means, continue to stand resolutely on the steps of your union, making your voices heard on campus, because we need as many students on our side if we want to convince the rest of the country to back us. Once you’ve done this, however, venture outside the student bubble and ensure Parliament can no longer turn a blind eye to our demands.