What it is!
In partnership with the University, we have been working together to try and mitigate as much of the Cost-of-Living Crisis and its effects on our students as we can. This included securing funding support from the university to expand our community larder initiative allowing it to launch in our Galashiels campus. However, It is now time to look at the wider picture.
What we're going to do!
As part of @NUSScotland’s national #fightingforstudents campaign, we participated in a week of action. Firstly, I wrote to my local MSPs demanding:
- A cost-of-living increase in student grants and bursaries
- Half-price bus and train travel all day for students and apprentices
- Long-term funding for mental health counsellors and our Think Positive project
- Permanent access to discretionary funding for international students
I encourage you to do the same using this template.
In addition to this, I attended an Accommodation Roundtable at the Scottish Government with students and other officers from all higher education institutions in Edinburgh. We highlighted the crisis that students have had to face when it comes to accommodation for years and the need for intervention and support.
Email your MSPs
Together we can get the Scottish Government to they take decisive action to tackle student and apprentice poverty and the mental health crisis.