This week I received a copy of a letter from Minister for Further Education John Hayes in which he outlined the Government's plan to introduce student loans for learners aged over 24 studying for the first level 3 (A levels or equivalent) course.

Currently, students who fall into this category are part-funded. The student pays for half the cost of their course and the other half is paid for by the Government. This system itself is unfair, leaving thousands of students with a huge bill to pay before they even start their course, with no financial assistance available to them.

However, the changes proposed by the Government are worse than the status quo.

They are seeking to rip away the 50 per cent funding, forcing the entire cost of a student's first level 3 course onto them.

This is a government which wants to encourage more people to become highly skilled, a government which is supposedly doing everything it can to get unemployment figures down.

Well, it doesn't take a genius to work out that asking people to pay even more to aid their career path isn't going to encourage more people into education.

The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills has even admitted that its own research shows that not only are potential learners put off by the rising cost of further education and the ever-increasing burden of student debt, but that this hesitation is worse among young people and those from black and minority ethnic backgrounds.

Of course, they'll tell you that this is necessary to get the deficit down. I'll let you in on a little secret – an unskilled workforce which can't find employment and is forced to live off the state is not going to help get the deficit down.

So far, not a single MP has replied to calls for a justification for this policy that isn't about the deficit.

We need a further education system which is free at the point of access – no fees, no loans. There's plenty of evidence to show it would pay for itself over and over again.

You can help to stop this plan - Join others students across the country who will be lobbying their MP at the national constituency lobby on the 22^nd June.

This Government has already failed students with its university policy, we cannot let it do it to those who haven't even got there yet.

Lobby your MP to say 'No to FE fees and loans' via www.no2fefees.org.uk now!