Well the pubs around Oxford Road will be busy that day. The've never got any money, but I always see the pubs full, I wonder if that comes from mummy and daddy.
If they had to pay for the clean up that happens every day up and down Oxford road picking up/taking down the flyers, etc then they would be sckint. Pubs, clubs, shops all give this lot a discount, but if your old or out of work you get nothing!

2 years ago I was a student and use to waste it on take aways and alcohol, there is more than enough money provided for them. The students just dont want to work part-time or in the 4 or 5 months they get off in summer, where they can earn money TAX FREE! Stop moaning and get on with it, I dont want to pay more in tax so you can booze in a pub all afternoon, whilst im struggling with bills, working monday to friday.
Maybe when youre working you will see things differently.
I suggest you students out there work during your summer holidays rather than swanning around.

Students come from all backgrounds.

I was very lucky to go to Uni befor fees were introduced, I didn't get any grant but my parents, although not well off, paid my rent etc for me and I worked in my holidays. If I didn''t have any money I just didn't go out. Other's I knew came from very well off backgrounds, had their own cars, went on 2-3 holidays a year etc and some of teh less well off students felt they had to try and keep up - and that being in debt was expected of them.

I disagree with fees because they will stop the poorest teenagers going to university irrespective of ability.

Instead the government should concentrate on getting only those who demonstrate ability and commitment into university - for free - and onto worthwhile courses. This way the taxpayers get value for money. Anyone else can buy their way in, maybe then they would be less inclined to waste the oportunity.

Contrary to the comments above, I think the idea of students wasting loans on take-aways and drink is dated. As a third year Journalism and English student in the city I would relish the chance to spend more time in the pub or enjoying take away food.

Most students pay around B#1100 per year for the "luxury" of attending university. Plans to defer this payment until being employed can only be a good thing.

I find it laughable that people believe that students do not get part time jobs, especially over the summer. This is exactly what happens in the majority of cases.

Obviously there will always be exceptions and there will always be people waiting to tar the whole group with the same brush.

It's interesting that MMU students have decided to protest in this way when the indications are that future MMU students will not have to pay the extra tuition fees. The University is not one of the elderly 'established' Universities in the country and as such will not be included in the extra charges. Do MU students feel the same way? I would suggest that some may see the future increase in tuition fees as justifying the 'superiority' of their University. University education is by no means a right, and every student must prove that they are worthy to go to University by proving their intelligence and willingness for hard work. Unfortunately, there are too many students that do not work hard, have a 3 year holiday and leave with a 2:2 or a 3rd. Such degrees de-value the efforts of students that do work hard and justify their spending on an improved education. By imposing extra fees on the future students of the established Universities, the government will create a 'two-tier' system of higher education similar to the Ivy league in the states...(It was good to see London Metropolitan beat Durham on Unversity Challenge last week!)...Indeed, the problem lies in defining how 'good' a University is. Just because the buildings are old, does not mean the students are the most intelligent and privileged. The assumption that red-brick Universities are 'better' is an out-moded myth based on images and perceptions derived from popular culture. Charging some University students more and not others is a fundamental flaw and exposes this system of University funding as a sham.

If rich parents can afford houses for their student children then they can easily afford tuition fees. If students can't afford fees, then where does the money come from for beer, cars, take ways? Not many poor kids goto university. The poor are paying for the rich to goto university. Far too many young people at university. Alot of them are wasting their time there and costing the tax payer dearly.
University education should be now paid for by the people who benefit the most.

Education has become a joke now. More of a money making business than really trying to educate the kids. I'm born clever, but education made me stupid.

I've read the comments on this page with great interest and can't believe how much people are whingeing about free education. I am a university lecturer and supported the strike on Tuesday and Wednesday for our pay and conditions. I pay tax like everyone else who works and was fortunate enough to attend university as a undergraduate on a grant (not a full one as my parents earned "too much"). We got housing benefit if our rents were high (as we were on low incomes) and were allowed to claim income support in the summer. To address some of the extremely poor arguments made by selfish tax payers: Just because you had to work in the summer doesn't make fees/loans a good thing, if everyone took that attitude we'd still be living in the dark ages. My grandad was a miner and as a youngster went down with a canary to warn against gas, I'm sure he wouldn't be saying that todays miners shouldn't have state of the art equipment because it costs too much. Secondly the argument about getting part time work can not apply to everyone, many students must attend field trips in their "holidays", or complete course work often having to travel at their own expense. I did work during the vacations even though I could have signed on. Thirdly from what I've read here it seems to me that people think that resident Mancunians never go out drinking. I wonder what the student population of Ashton and Stalybridge are because the bars there are always bursting at the seams - funny because most of the students I speak of have never heard of these places, and besides, is it a crime to go out and have a drink purely because you're a student. The tax issue is a great one, "bin men shouldn't pay for the education of doctors, nurses, engineers, teachers" said one government minister, fair enough then why don't these people stop treating, teaching, designing hydraulic machines for bin men. I'm sure they'd love to go back to dragging through the streets with horses and carts - until the horses die because no-one thought of paying to train some vets. Effectively the system proposed by Blair leads to a situation where some one who may have wanted to teach all their lives, worked hard at University will be paying more tax than Piers Morgan, Alex Ferguson and the rest of United and City. If you can't come up with a more reasoned argument than I had to do it, or why should I pay then we've come to a pretty sad point in our history - Manchester founders of the unions and labour movement turning it's back on society.