The coronavirus pandemic has shone a brutal light on many inequalities and injustices, but for university students it represents the last straw; too many are now in perilous situations. The current crisis is not the fault of students. For months the government failed to listen to trade unions and scientific experts.

In late August 2020, the University and College Union (UCU) warned against students returning to universities. Rightly, the union raised fears that the migration of over a million students across the UK would risk doing untold damage to people’s health and exacerbate the worst health crisis of our lifetimes. This is especially true considering the government’s failure to introduce a proper functioning track and trace system, or any UK-wide plans to regularly test students or staff.

On 26 September 2020, the government’s own Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) recommended a shift to online learning ‘unless face-to-face teaching is absolutely essential.’ This was ignored for over three months, until the first week of January 2021. The result has been as devastating as it was predictable.

According to UCU, there have been over 52,000 cases of coronavirus on UK higher and further education institutions. According to the National Union of Students, 20 percent of students have confirmed they will not be able to pay their rent and essential bills this term, and three in four students are anxious about paying their rent. They desperately need financial support from the government.

Students have been required to stay in their university halls, which has placed an intolerable strain on mental health. In some cases, fences have been built around accommodation that, just months ago, students were reassured would be safe. Now, students are learning remotely, thus missing out on the usual university experience, and cannot return to the campuses they are paying £9,000 per year to attend.

In recent decades, universities have been treated as private businesses, left at the mercy of market forces, while top salaries soar and students pay more for less. Tuition fees have trebled, and maintenance grants have been scrapped, leaving the poorest graduates with an average debt of £57,000.

It was wrong for the Tony Blair-led Labour government to introduce tuition fees in 1998, and to raise fees to £3000 a year in 2004. It was a generational betrayal for the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition to raise these fees to £9000 per year in 2010 – especially after the promises made by then Lib-Dem leader Nick Clegg.

The argument in favour of tuition fees is that it is a means of raising revenue. I do not believe it is the fairest way of doing so. During the post-World War Two economic boom, the top rate of corporation tax was as high as 52 percent for large companies – and it was introduced by Conservative chancellor Anthony Barber. Under Margaret Thatcher, the rate was reduced to 30 percent. Since tripling tuition fees in 2010, the Conservatives have cut corporation tax from 28 percent to 19 percent – which shows that they would rather raise funds by squeezing young people than reduce the corporate profits of wealthy shareholders.

I believe that education must be a universal right – not a costly privilege. We all benefit from an educated society. Learning is not just vital to our economy – it lets people develop their talents, overcomes injustices and inequalities, and helps us understand each other and form social bonds. That’s why free-at-the-point-of-use education is the norm for most European countries.

Extortionate tuition fees have been a failed experiment. They have saddled young people with debt, deterred working-class people from gaining a higher education, and turned our universities into profit-seeking business. A 2017 study by UCL’s Institute of Education found that students from poorer backgrounds are deterred from applying to university due to fear of student loan debt. It also found that young people from a working-class background are far more likely than students from other social classes to avoid applying to university because of fear of debt.

Two-thirds of the current cabinet were privately educated, but they systematically deny working-class young people—especially those from African, Asian, and Minority Ethnic communities—the opportunities that they were afforded. The government must take this opportunity to support students by refunding rents, cancelling student debt, and scrapping tuition fees for good.

Listening to the voices of many students, I have been leading a parliamentary campaign which calls on the government to properly fund our universities, scrap tuition fees, and cancel student debt. I have written to the Chancellor, tabled an Early Day Motion, and raised this issue directly with the Education Secretary in the House of Commons. Ultimately, the government must listen to the calls of students. They must follow the example of most of our European neighbours to ensure that young people are not punished for seeking an education and aspiring to contribute to our society.