Letter: Students fill that gap with vital work

Sir: The Government's small change of heart on tuition fees for gap-year students did not, contrary to your front page headline, signal a "victory".

The Government's plans remain essentially unchanged. It still intends to abolish the student grant and introduce tuition fees. This could mean debts of pounds 15,000 to pounds 20,000 for a three-year degree.

This was not a U-turn by the Government but more of a slight blip in its drive to extinguish free university education. It is good that 20,000 students will be spared these debts, but what about the other 60,000 of this year's A-level graduates and the countless thousands of generations to come who will be deterred from entering higher education if the Government is not forced to make a real U-turn?

CATH FLETCHER

Campaign for Free Education

Newcastle upon Tyne