KU students have the opportunity to shape the political landscape and play a decisive role in the election. However, those considering voting for a perspective party or candidate should consider what their vote means with regards to tuition fees.

A Labour review on tuition fees in 2004 meant students were paying as much as £3,225 per year. This rate, over a standard three year course would lead to students leaving higher education with almost £10,000 to pay back; this figure excludes rent and living expenses.

The government said it would review tuition fees last year, but decided against going ahead with it until after the election. However, all signs are that tuition fees will rise.

“There is a real prospect that fees might go up by £5,000, £7,000 or £10,000 per year. Some leaders and some vice- chancellors are already asking the opposition to push fees up,” said Aaron Porter, vice president of the NUS.

The NUS are keen to generate money for higher education funding from the tax payer rather than increasing the considerable debt taken on by undergraduates. The average graduate debt is now in excess of £22,000. Mr Porter said: “Part-time, post-grads and international students are charged a great deal more, as they have un-capped fees.”

 Both main parties have given their backing to prospect fee hikes. Labour has indicated that it wants to give permission to universities to set their own fees. 

The Conservatives have suggested a fee structure similar to the US system, which is much higher than in the UK.

The Lib Dems would prefer to cut tuition fees. Ed Davey, MP for Kingston-Surbiton said: “We want to slash top up fees. This time we know we can’t afford to do it so we will now do it over six years, we would gradually get it to all students.”

Mr Davey added: “I think with tuition fees we have got a whole range of problems, the most concerning one is that when students do graduate they have a huge millstone of debt round their neck.”

Max Freedman, Labour candidate for Kingston-Surbiton said: “There should not be any increase in tuition fees. Universities have to be paid for whether that is by tuition fees or some sort of graduate tax. We need a system that does not scare people off going to university; grants are a good thing.”

The Green Party have made similar overtures about their plans to do away with fees by raising tax. They hope to generate revenue for their projects by abolishing identity cards and scrapping the planned up-grade of the UK's nuclear arsenal.

 The party would advocate funding higher education by offering grants to students, instead of raising fees. This would ensure students left university with lower debt levels.

  “Our policy is to scrap any fees for higher education, the only way to do this is to raise taxes,” said Chris Walker, Green Party candidate for Kingston-Surbiton.

 However, Conservative candidate for Kingston-Richmond Helen Whately believes there is no realistic alternative to a tuition fee hike.

 “None of the three parties would be able support lowering tuition fees. The Lib Dems do not have a policy here, their whips will vote in accordance with the party line. The choice between Labour, Conservative and Lib Dem is clear, it’s not about who’s going to cut fees, it’s about who’s going to give you more for your money,” she said.

The highly successful and popular KU Taekwondo team is being evicted from its current training location because of health and safety concerns.

The Taekwondo team recently won the inter-university competition held at Cambridge University for the third year in a row. The Cambridge Open is the first taekwondo tournament of the university calendar and the Kingston team won seven individual gold medals at this year’s event. The very next day the team won three more gold medals at the London Open in Crawley. 

The club has a big problem though as it has been told it can no longer use its current training venue at the Kingston Arena. The hall capacity at the site is 30 people but the Taekwondo society regularly has between 40-50 people training with them each week.

KU Taekwondo President Michael Nathan-Pepple said: “Taekwondo is a great sport. We have a great instructor who makes the training sessions fun. When we go to the student nationals we always get good results. We have a good structure, a good student base; we just need more people and a bigger hall to practice in.”

Finding a new place for the team to train has proved difficult however, as Rhiannon Hiscocks VP Activities for the KU Student’s Union, told us:

“Taekwondo’s facilities are too small. We could move to a bigger hall (if there was one) but the instructors may not be able to make that time and it would cost more money. We’re already pumping a lot of money into Kingston College and local schools that are better facilitated than Kingston University. The Students' Union, the University and even students themselves are paying to use these facilities. The College and the nine other venues we use every year charge hire fees. If we re-invested this money into our own facilities instead of wasting it on renting, that would be a much better use of our money.”

A Kingston University spokesman said:“The University is trying to identify sites for sports facilities and recognises the importance of students’ sporting ambitions, however as is the case for many town and city-based universities, there is a shortage of suitable land in the Kingston area on which to build facilities. The University will continue to work with the Council, through the local development framework, to try and identify potential sites for sports facilities, in particular a sports hall.”