Saturday 6 October 2007

University students are set to face a sharp increase in the interest of their loans and are fighting back using social network Facebook.

However, many students are unaware of the doubling of the interest rate from 2.4% to 4.8%: "I knew they were going up, but didn't know it was that much" says James Hunter, a first year from University College Falmouth .

After the recent success of the Facebook campaign against HSBC implementing a £10 a week charge, the same measures are being taken against the changes to loans. The group, called "Interest Rates on Student Loans to Double" was set up by angered students from University of East Anglia.

The moderator of the group, Paul Graves, said "A bank could never double its interest rates without informing its customers well in advance, but currently very few of the people this will affect are aware of the rise".

However, many students aware off the increase seem quite unfazed by the new rates: "Yea it's pretty bad, but it's got to happen because of inflation" says Steve O'Neill, a student at Plymouth.

2 comments:

mia said...

Really like the facebook approatch to peoples reaction. Good use of quotes, especially the James Hunter one. Like the ending!

Anne said...

Structure: Well written in inverted pyramid formula. Your intro is tight and paragraphs of a suitable length for the most part.

Audience: A good story, very suitable for your audience, although it would have been good to hear more from Falmouth students and perhaps the FXU.

Accuracy: You haven’t sourced the key claim of your story. Can you attribute the rate rise to the student loan company?

Spelling: Be careful. You have made a number of errors, one of which is in your intro.

Original research and quotes: It seems that you have lifted some quotes from Facebook here. When you lift quotes get into the habit of saying where they are from. For balance you need a quote from the authority that has decided to increase interest rates. More research would have strengthened this story – it might be one well worth following up.

Punctuation: Watch this, especially around quotes

Comment/opinion: No place for this in news so your last par is unnecessary, but also unclear. What are you actually saying – is it that most students are in favour of the change? In a way it knocks down your story.