Tuition fees 'set to rise with inflation' as maintenance grants to return
28 September 2024, 07:25 | Updated: 28 September 2024, 10:39
The Government is considering raising tuition fees in line with inflation, a source has told LBC.
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The Labour government will also restore maintenance grants in this latest move to put Britain’s economy on track.
Bridget Phillipson, the education secretary, has said the current £9,250-a-year tuition fees have been “eroded”, with their value no longer reflecting what they once did.
She has said the current system is the “worst of all worlds”, hinting reform could well be on the horizon.
A Government source has told LBC a rise in tuition fees is one of "several options being considered" by the Department of Education.
Fees could rise by up to 13.5 per cent over the next five years to £10,500, according to reports.
Sir Keir Starmer’s government would prevent this from impacting the poorest children through the reintroduction of maintenance grants, which were worth up to £3,500 before being abolished by the Conservatives in 2016.
A Department of Education spokesperson told LBC: "We believe that every young person, regardless of their background, should have the opportunity to attend university.
"That’s why we are dedicated to creating a sustainable higher education funding system that supports students, expands opportunities, and upholds the excellence of our world-leading universities.
“The Government is committed to reviewing the higher education funding system to deliver for our economy, for universities, and for students and we will be announcing further details in due course.”
Education Secretary speaks to Lewis Goodall | Watch again
“The current system is unsustainable and we need to raise tuition fees,” a Whitehall source told the Times
“But at the same time we need to look at maintenance grants to help those who can least afford it.”
Universities UK, which represents vice-chancellors, has said a rise in fees feels inevitable.
Vivienne Stern, chief executive of Universities UK, said: “It [raising fees] has to be done, it’s not putting it up, it’s stopping it from going down and down [in real terms].
“The quicker you do it, the bigger the impact it has. It will start to restore confidence in the system. Maintenance loans should also be uprated — doing the two together is fairer to students and takes the sting out of it.
“This issue has seemed like the most impenetrable political problem but we have to deal with it, we can’t be the generation that hands on universities in worse shape.”
Speaking to LBC last week, the Education Secretary hinted at a possible rise in university tuition fees, while admitting it would be an "unpalatable" decision.
Bridget Phillipson told LBC's Sunday with Lewis Goodall ahead of the start of the Labour party conference that the government would "look at all the options" in order to help universities.
Pressed on whether, as a last resort, she would consider raising tuition fees, which have been set at a maximum for domestic students of £9,250 for seven years, Ms Phillipson said: "It’s not something I would want to go to.
"But I do recognise all the time that the value of the fee has eroded - it hasn’t gone up in a very long time."
Universities and teaching unions have warned that the sector faces a major funding crisis. Some university vice-chancellors have called for an increase in tuition fees of between of between £2,000 and £3,500 a year.
Labour peer and former ally of Tony Blair Peter Mandelson has also warned that tuition fees may have to rise.
Tuition fee rises have been politically unpopular ever since the widespread protests that followed the increase of maximum fee to £9,000 under the Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition over a decade ago.
And University and College Union (UCU) leader Jo Grady said on Sunday that Labour should hike taxes on businesses to increase public funding for universities, rather than increasing the financial burden on students.
Ms Grady said in a statement: "Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves should realise there will be no decade of national renewal if the decline of our great universities goes unchecked. After the state the Tories left us in there is a material risk of a university going under unless the Government acts.
"But university employers now want students to bear the cost by taking on yet more debt. Graduates already face up to 40 years of repayments and staggeringly high effective marginal tax rates. Rocketing fees would mean one hundred thousand more per cohort would never pay their debt off.
"The tuition fee model has become unworkable, it leads to yearly cycles of job cuts, hurting staff and damaging student provision, and, by accelerating the decline of our universities, it ultimately harms us all.
"Education is a public good that enriches communities and strengthens society. It should be publicly funded. Big business reaps private profits from the graduates it employs, which is why we are calling for an increase in corporation tax of 4.3 percentage points."
