Cole Urges U.k. Officials to Drop University Fees Hike

Model-turned-actress Lily Cole is urging officials in her native U.K. to reduce university fees so students can avoid the country's "culture of debt".

The beauty, who graduated from Britain's prestigious Cambridge University this summer (11), joined thousands of demonstrators at a London rally last week (ends13Nov11) to protest against funding cuts and the government's plans to increase tuition costs.

Cole's fees were lower than the new proposed rates, and she wants education chiefs to scrap the plans for the sake of young learners.

She says, "I come from a family who could not have afforded to pay current university fees. I hope we can offer the same opportunities to the generations of children that follow - without initiating them into our culture of debt".