The 24 hour window is (or was), in student terms, a life saver. Everytime you got set a deadline for coursework you were allowed to be exactly a day late handing it in. Close your eyes- not now, in three paragraphs time or else you will not be able to read- and try to imagine this. It’s 2pm, the day before your coursework deadline. So far, you have managed to write a word a week, and two of those are your name. Your team kick off at 3pm, and your housemate pokes his head around the door. “S.U?”

It’s now 10pm, the day before your coursework deadline. You have one paragraph. Somehow you’ve managed to hit the word count button more times than the space bar. It looks hopeless, this was worth 10% and even though you were set it 3 weeks ago you decided to leave it until the last minute. By midnight you realise that you have just fourteen hours to write 2,000 words. Instead of writing, you work out how many words that is per minute. It comes to around 2 words a minute. That’s alright. Bring on the coffee, but first a quick text to Kim. She never manages to do her coursework on time, you can rely on her to fail with you.

Kettle boils, 2 sugars, an extra spoon of coffee for luck. You will finish this tonight if it kills you, which given the amount of coffee you have just downed it may well. Back to the laptop, books out, big sigh, a quick check of the phone, and there it is, the text you had been waiting for. Kim is using the 24 hour window. How could you forget the 24 hour window! You now have to try and sleep through a litre of coffee. Thank you Kim.

The scenario above will be horribly familiar to many U.W.E students. Of course there are those who do coursework the moment it is set, and you really should, but often things get in the way. Birthdays, the unmissable night at Syndicate that on reflection you now wish you had missed, a game of 5-a-side, blowing your loan on cider and general tomfoolery. The 24 hour window is a Godsend for those of you who jump at the chance to go out quicker than a dog locked in a car on a hot day. The hedonists among you, who would rather get a Third and a George Best style liver in three years time, will merely add an extra day on every time you get given a deadline. Tuesday 23rd at 2pm becomes Wednesday 24th and so on and so forth.

The 24 hour window, despite what you will be told (quite possibly by me) is not for the fun-chasing, mark-scraping, hangover loving contingent. It exists for genuine emergencies; a family crisis, your car breaking down, snow making it impossible to get to a far-flung campus, your own death. So there are two sides to the coin, but should the university be picking our pocket of something that benefits both the hard-working but unfortunate and the 24 hour party people?

If we look at it objectively, the 24 hour window offers little to no incentive to even consider deadlines. Will removing the window lead to more responsible working practices amongst students? Or will it merely mean an increase in the number of students failing to hand anything in?

The former seems much more likely. With the cost of a degree (sorry to tell you Freshers, the loan has to be repaid) likely to rise, and student debt higher than ever, the number of freeloading students who join university as a stop-gap should dwindle. Abusing the 24 hour window merely shows a lack of commitment to your course, and your future. Life is full of deadlines; tax forms, parking fines, final warnings, if you miss these, the repercussions are worse than having to work harder on your next piece, or a stern look from your tutor. Edward Young, the maudlin poet, once said that “Procrastination is the thief of time. So stop reading this drivel, and hand in your coursework early. Trust me, you will not regret it.