In a move that will dismay thousands of prospective students, Sir Keir Starmer‘s government has increased tuition fees for the first time in eight years.
The annual cost of an undergraduate degree in England and Wales will increase by three per cent from September, while maintenance loans have also gone up. This means that the total fees per year will be £9,353, an increase of £285.
The move to raise university tuition fees was announced in November 2024, prompting criticism from the Conservative opposition. The Department of Education said the rise was in line with inflation.
But shadow education secretary Laura Trott accused Labour at the time of “declaring war on students” and pointed out that the increase, when students can least afford it, was not mentioned in the election manifesto.
She also pointed out that Sir Keir had promised to scrap tuition fees when he ran for leader of the Labour Party.
The rise is not as high as some feared, however. Previous reports speculated that fees could rise from £9,250 to £10,500.
Students will also be permitted to borrow more to cover their costs. For instance, the maximum maintenance loan for students from England who live away from their parents outside the capital has now increased to £10,544 a year, up from £10,227.
Why are the fees rising?
Last year, Universities UK (UUK) said government grants and fees have not kept pace with rising costs, causing budget deficits.
UUK suggested that if investment in teaching students had kept up with inflation, funding per student would be in the region of £12,000 to £13,000. It added that any rise should be accompanied by additional support to help with the cost of studying, including restoring grants for the poorest students.
Many educational institutions are currently facing a financial crisis, with 40 per cent of universities expecting to slump into deficit this year.
One of the key reasons is a dramatic drop in the number of international students travelling to the UK to study abroad, following a Tory crackdown on dependent visas.
Foreign students, often from lucrative backgrounds, tend to pay triple or quadruple the costs for domestic students, and provide a crucial lifeline for universities. Home Office figures released at the end of last year showed there was a 16 per cent drop in visa applications from overseas students between July and September.
Sir Keir Starmer announced last May his plans to abandon his pledge to abolish tuition fees in favour of tackling NHS waiting lists.
At the time he told BBC Radio 4: “Looking at the costing for tuition fees or abolishing them, looking at the money we need to put into the NHS, I’ve taken the decision that we can’t do both. That’s a difficult decision, I’ll accept that.”
How could this affect future students?
Raising tuition fees is likely to be an unpopular move, particularly given the ongoing cost of living crisis, which has forced a number of families into debt and financial insecurity.
It is likely to run the risk that if maintenance support doesn’t increase, students from the lowest-income families might be unable to attend university.
As well as paying for tuition, students also have to find money for rent, food, transport, energy bills and any extracurricular activities.
The government is also understood to be considering reforming the tuition fee repayment model, over concerns that enormous amounts of student debt disproportionately impact less-advantaged graduates.
