Student Unions: are they worth the money?

By A. Supporter

For most, student unions will be synonymous with cheap pints, table football and the occasional foam party (if you’re lucky). For a chosen few, student unions will be their ticket to a career beyond their wildest dreams.

I know people who have been “sabbs” (sabbatical officers elected from the student body) that have gone on to be managers and officers at some of the most high-profile and reputable organisations in the country. Indeed, some of these people have yet to turn 25 and they have better jobs and earn more money than either of my parents (both of whom went to university and both of whom have been working for over thirty years).

Today, two years’ work experience is barely enough to get your foot in the door. For some of the sabbs I know, two years experience working at a student union has been enough to secure them a lucrative job – one sabb I know is a senior public affairs officer for a leading national charity, another is a senior manager at a student union, and yet another works as a Senior Research Assistant to a Government Minister. In contrast, most of the graduates I went to university with are still unemployed. The gulf is astronomical.

Henry Kissinger once said of student politics that it was so vehement “precisely because there is so little at stake”. However true that may be, student politics, which is no longer the domain of placard waving lefties demanding a better world but a convention of the suited and booted, has provided a lucky few with the training and confidence required to excel in today’s job market. Indeed, some student unions spend a significant amount of students’ subscription fees on their sabbs, most of whom receive a generous salary, professional training and, quite often, a job title that far exceeds their remit.

I know that there will be a lot of sabbs out there who will criticise my view, a lot who will say that they work extremely hard and give up their weekends to work but when you think about it, sabbs have it easy.

While the rest of us are struggling to find a job, sabbs are enjoying weekend training events, catered conferences and a good salary. A few sabbs I know have stood for re-election simply because it is such a good deal. Indeed, the only invitation I have seen on Twitter/Facebook this year for “wine and nibbles at my place” was made by a sabb with disposable income. Given that this person will never do or say anything to change the student experience, it is objectionable that he should be so well endowed financially. Either that or I keep mediocre company and everyone else is going to wine and nibbles gatherings all the time.

The other astonishing thing about student unions these days is the amount of full time staff there are. At one London-based union, there are just four full time sabbs, supported by over twenty fulltime staff, a group which collectively earns well in excess of £300,000 per annum. I appreciate that sabbs need training and guidance and someone needs to run the bar but surely the ratio of money spent recruiting, training and employing such a vast boondoggle of staff far exceeds the benefit enjoyed by the average student.

I am an advocate of unions and of what unions have done and can do but when it comes to some student unions, there seems to be very little to celebrate – a few rallies, a few conference speeches, a few campus campaigns but very little tangible change. Is it worth it?

The other question is this: are student unions worth the subscription fee or are they merely finishing schools for a few lucky sabbs?

For an alternative take on the student union movement, try Student Unions: the co-operative hubs of tomorrow.