OFFA (the Office of Fair Access) have revealed that revised access agreements for 2012-13 have been approved for 25 English universities and colleges (24 higher education institutions and one further education college) to bring them within the criteria to bid for student number places from the ‘margin’.

The Government’s rules have encouraged them to switch money away from students’ pockets in the form of bursaries and scholarships and into fee waivers to get the cost of a place down. Alarmingly, this will mean that many institutions allocate nothing to bursaries and scholarships at all in their access agreements.

The news comes on top of news earlier in the year that millions of pounds would be diverted from bursaries and scholarships and into fee waivers as a result of the Government’s changes.

Although £150m has been allocated to a “National Scholarship Scheme”, figures show that in fact £70m less will hit students’ pockets as a result of the changes.

We've written a letter to Nick Clegg - the promoter of the “National Scholarship Scheme”- asking for him to explain himself to NUS National Conference in 2012.

In this briefing you will find details and figures for your institution, details on the overall picture, a press release and a copy of the letter we'd like every students' union to sign to Nick Clegg.

Feel free to send it yourself directly to him as well as signing up to ours, or even start getting your students to sign letters to him.

With only 1 day to get this sent to Clegg, over 50 unions and student officers signed the letter. If you missed the opportunity but want to support our call, then leave your comments here:

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/liam-burns/students-nick-clegg-tuition-fees_b_1125643.html?ref=uk-universities-education

If you have any questions please contact Lewis Cooper (lewis.cooper@nus.org.uk)