The Guild Building Redevelopment!

Here at Birmingham we are very lucky to have a big building, which we have full use of. Over the summer I have met some Officers from other Unions who are very jealous of us.

Anyway, I digress. As if our building isn't good enough already, over the next 2 years we will be undergoing a massive redevelopment to make sure that our building is bigger and better than ever, and better served to meet the needs of our students.

Phase 1 is due to be completed in mid-October. This is about bringing you better toilets, and these are already open in the Basement and Underground. New toilets on the first floor next to the Common Room will be opened mid-October.

Phase 2 will start in April 2009, and will be making our bars and retail services even better. This will be ready in time for Welcome Week 2009.

Phase 3 is about improving our student services - thats Student Development, the ARC and the Jobzone. That will be finished by Apil 2010.

But what we really need is your opinion! I am currently looking for students who will complete a brief questionnaire for me so we can get your opinions on what you would like to see from Phase 2 of the redevelopment.

Please e-mail h.lazell@guild.bham.ac.uk

Hidden Course Costs!

Last friday I was lucky enough to finally finish my MSc course. Sadly though, after paying almost £6,000 in tuition, buying countless books and spending almost £10 on printing my dissertation alone, I then had to fork out £34 just to get it bound!

Whilst these seemingly trivial amounts of money may be nothing to the minority, to the majority of people they are becoming part of a greater problem which is seeing students graduate with crippling amounts of debt. Student loan debt, combined with top up fees and these other hidden costs are not only forcing many graduates to move back home after they finish, but is meaning that less and less people are attracted to higher education, and ultimately university is becoming a privilege, not a right.

This is why the Officer Team this year are putting Value for Money at the heart of the campaigns we do. We don't think its right that students who are paying large amounts of money for tuition and accommodation are getting seemingly little out of it, whilst having to pay for all these hidden extras. So for the next academic year, look out for our many campaigns, be they to do with printing credits or halls fees, and get involved!