If a first year lives in North Acton, they are going to spend at least 90 minutes a day traveling back and forth between South Kensington and their halls. As the courses at Imperial College London are already known to have a high workload, our future students are going to find this incredibly painful and I expect more first years will drop out when they are going through the transition of a school mentality to that of what is needed to complete an Imperial degree. I predict that these students will engage less with the student community, fewer will do Horizons, which will ultimately lead to them not being a well-rounded student and less employable.

I also expect the lecture attendance will drop significantly for any first years that live in North Acton, for example I doubt the lecture turnout on Wednesday mornings is going to be as high for those that are lucky enough to live in South Kensington. This is going to leave a gap in some students’ knowledge of their discipline and I am worried more students may fail their exams and get lower marks due to this.

Furthermore, the students that are living in South Kensington will be able to access the 24 hour central library at practically all hours with just a 6 minute walk to Eastside, while students will have to get 2 night buses back to North Acton when the underground stops running. It seems a massive shame to me that less of our students will be able to access one of Imperial’s greatest resources, which the students think most highly of.

I know the Union does not represent academic staff but I really don’t envy any of the undergraduate admissions tutors who will have to sell Imperial to prospective applicants, on the fact that there is a good chance they will have to pay around £6,500 on accommodation and travel, while they receive a sub-standard student experience. In the latest UCAS data, the biggest reason for students declining an offer was the cost of living. This data doesn’t even take into account the students who didn’t apply in the first place and I envisage that more applicable students won’t want to come to Imperial due to this recent development.

 I mean, seriously what is the point of paying members of College staff in Outreach and Recruitment, while telling the Office For Fair Access (OFFA) that we are doing our part on widening participation, so we can charge the £9,000 fees, if we just segregate the cash rich students from the others and deter talented applicants from applying, who just simply cannot afford it? How are we supposed to attract the best talent from across the globe if we can’t even manage it in our own country?

 So as you can see, I am clearly #AgainstActon and I urge every student reading this to let your academic reps know that you are too. 

Read the Union’s response to the project online.