I have a personal story to show how the Government's plans to fund university education are deeply flawed and unfair.

I mucked about as a teenager and didn't do that well at school. My first job was as a hospital porter. After that I worked on Bristol Docks and then as a building society clerk. These boring, low paid jobs were making me depressed so in my late 20s I took the big financial gamble of giving up work, doing an access course and going to university. I studied electronics at Bristol Polytechnic, and I am now a skilled telecoms engineer. When I finished my course I was penniless, but not in debt.

That was some years ago. Nowadays a student finishing five years at college like I did might have perhaps £30,000 of debt. With that financial risk in front of me I would never have gone to university, and I would still be in dead-end jobs.

My dad left school when he was 14, and my mum went straight into the army at 16. They were members of the Labour party and they campaigned so that their children would have a chance that they never had. They are really proud that all their children went to university.

The Labour Party has changed: both Julia Drown and Michael Wills had their own privileged Oxbridge educations fully paid for by the state but want to lumber today's youngsters with paying fees!

Not all graduates end up in high paid jobs. Education is not just about money, it is about ideas, hope and imagination. We need to let our young people enjoy their studies without worrying about a lifetime in debt.

Andy Newman

Secretary Swindon Socialist Alliance

Avenue Road

Old Town