Opinion: Fat cats’ £15million a year shows City bosses don’t care about students

Never has it been so blatantly obvious that the people in charge of our education really don’t give a single shit about us.

The fact that the wages of our university high-ups could cover a tenth of all of our fees for a year is terrifying. The fact that our vice-chancellor Paul Curran earns double what the Prime Minister does is just downright depressing. Honestly, I can feel my enthusiasm for academic enlightenment draining away every minute.

It’s always been a fact of life that most students struggle by on tight budgets and spare pennies, but the news that City University’s top earners are raking in upwards of £15 million between them not only rubs but grinds salt into a wound already festering with maintenance grant cuts and sky-high tuition fees. International students at City (who account for nearly 50% of students) can now expect to pay an average of £13,000 for to privilege of learning – and that jumps to £14,500 for many science-based or clinical degrees. And as our grants disappear and the unfathomable prospect of another fee increase looms on the horizons, it won’t be uncommon for home students to graduate £50,000 in debt. Of course, that’s probably not a significant figure for a man earning £346,000 every year.

When there are students literally unable to buy themselves food, or juggling crazy hours of work and study to make it through their degree, how is it possibly justifiable that a university vice-chancellor can be paid £346,000? Plus expenses! Is there really no better way that anyone could think of to spend that money?

I don’t care how noble, beneficial or hard-working he may (or may not) be…this is education! Not dubious overseas trading! This is not the place for greed.

Because that’s what this is. Just plain greed. Paint it however you like, it doesn’t change the fact that these overblown, overpaid, ridiculous amounts of money should not be pouring out of the education sector and falling neatly into the pockets of boardroom types who – I’ll say it again – clearly don’t care about the students they are supposed to stand up for.

With that in mind, I’d like to suggest a way Curran and friends can show their concern and support for students of the universities they’ve recieved so much from. The ‘Paul Curran Gives Back’ scholarship fund anyone?