Take for example the hoodies you can buy from the SU Shop, we offer both fairtrade and normal hoodies. They are currently priced at the same value, £23, however the markup on the normal hoodies produces more profit for the Union.
Hoodies are not the only Fair-trade items we stock, others include all our tea and coffee in our cafe's, lots of chocolate and snacks and also a wide range of drinks. But is it affordable for students to decide to buy items on ethical grounds or does the student budget just about stretch to economy spaghetti and salad cream!
Moving on from pointing out injustices and looking towards potential solutions I keep coming back to the idea of London weighting, where students living in London et a larger maintenance loan for doing so...
I guess the question is, does the cost of living in Brighton not warrant a similar weighting system, allowing students to have enough disposable cash to have the student experience they want, or event be able to live in a city, where rent is more expensive than the loan payments they receive!
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Location:Home Farm Rd,Brighton,United Kingdom
I think you make a great point, surely you are in the position to campaign on the unfair weighting system of loans to benefit the students of Brighton! I found it so unfair that my friends who lived in the north of England as a student could have a better standard of living as their money stretched further, we here in Brighton have to stretch loans and work too just to pay rent!
ReplyDeleteIn terms of fair-trade hoodies, why can't all hoodies be fair-trade as they are no extra expense to the student and it's promoting ethical issues?