Mandy Telford, president of the National Union of Students, answers your questions about loans, fees and the universities' funding crisis.

Do you think ordinary students are interested in what the NUS says and does? Gillian Pratchett, Edinburgh

What NUS says and does is decided by students from across the UK at our annual conference. It is then up to the executive committee to carry out the work and policies that conference mandates them to.

But what is an ordinary student? The press sometimes tries to pigeonhole students as lazy and great connoisseurs of daytime TV. On other occasions we are portrayed as drunks who never turn up for lectures. The students we are campaigning for are those who are missing lectures because they have been working in night-clubs into the wee hours of the morning or up stacking shelves before supermarkets open.

We are also working on behalf of Further Education students, who are now entitled to a grant thanks to NUS campaigning.

We want to ensure that all students have a decent standard of accommodation. Our most recent Health and Housing survey showed that 16 per cent of students are living with vermin infestation. We have lobbied MPs to get a Bill into parliament that will force all landlords to be fully licensed. NUS exists to campaign for a better deal for all its members, however "ordinary" they may or may not be considered to be.

What exactly is the march on December 4 about? Carmen Somers, Newcastle

The march on Wednesday, December 4, will be students from all over the country converging on London to call on the Government to sort out the current mess surrounding higher education funding.

The demo is a vital opportunity for us to drill home the message to the Government that top-up fees will cripple higher education and stop thousands of people from being able to attend university. We do not want a situation where access to university is determined by wealth as opposed to ability. It would be a very brave and foolish government which decides to ignore public opinion, so it is vital that as many students as possible get down to London next week to leave the Government in no doubt about the strength of feeling on this issue.

My students' union is hiring buses to come to the march next month. Isn't it a waste of money for something that will make no difference to what the Government does? Don't you think union funds are better spent on something else? Kevin Watt, Bangor

Some of the measures that the Government is considering as part of the student funding review would increase the already insurmountable levels of debt with which students leave university.