According to a new report by the rightwing thinktank Reform, "the government is in the process of mortgaging the future of a generation" by ignoring the plight of young people in its recent comprehensive spending review. Students have felt this for years.
Obviously I welcome increased funding for health and pensions, but the answer is not to shift the financial burden on to young people and students.
The current student funding system means that graduates are hit with debt just when they are at their most vulnerable. Many students have to drop out before completing their courses because they cannot afford not to work full-time. And those who do manage to graduate are facing ever more difficult choices - whether to invest, start a family, get on to the first rung of the housing ladder or start a pension.
More often than not, these decisions are being affected by the debt they have incurred while at university. This needs to be urgently addressed if we are to ensure that future generations of graduates are given the best possible start in life and, crucially, are able to contribute fully to the UK economy.
We only need to look at soaring house prices to see where the government's fiscal policy might come crashing down around them. If the debts of young people continue to rise unchecked, there will be no more first-time buyers and the market will dry up.
And there is potential for economic disaster in the longer term. After the recent pensions crisis, university leavers are now unlikely to be able to secure decent company pension schemes. Given that they are starting out in debt, their ability to put aside substantial savings during their working lives has been seriously hampered, and their potential to become a hazardous burden to the welfare state in their retirement has been increased.
A generational time bomb is ticking. If we are not careful, we will live to regret our current disregard for the plight of young people.
Gemma Tumelty is president of the National Union of Students.
