The Labour government is planning to increase undergraduate university fees for English students by 13.5 per cent over five years to £10,500, according to sources at The Times.
Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson told LBC last month that the “value of the fee has eroded” but added that an increase would be “unpalatable”.
The leak follows calls by Universities UK – a body representing 141 universities – to increase tuition fees and government funding for the sector.
In a proposal seen by the BBC, the organisation said:
“Universities lose money teaching UK students – and that deficit has grown year on year.”
The Office for Students, which regulates higher education in England, estimated that 40 per cent of all English universities would be in deficit in 2023/24.
Last year, the University of York reported a £15 million deficit.
In 2017, tuition fees were frozen for English students at £9,250.
Tuition fees are different for Northern Irish students studying in Northern Ireland, who pay £4,750, and Scottish students in Scotland, who are not charged tuition fees.
Welsh students receive a mixture of maintenance loans and grants depending on their household income, place of study, and residence.
The Times revealed that maintenance grants for low income students, which were scrapped by the Conservatives in 2016, would return as part of the plans.
In a statement, Alex Stanley, Vice President Higher Education at the National Union of Students (NUS UK), stressed that maintenance funding should also increase should the changes go ahead.
“The crisis impacting university finances is the same that is driving students into poverty in increasing numbers”, Stanley added.
A recent report by NUS UK found that twice as many students were using foodbanks than in 2022.
Felix, an English student at the University of Edinburgh, called the current fees “extortionate”.
English students leave university with average debts of £44,940, the Student Loans Company has said.
Questioning whether students should be paying more fees, Felix said universities “already look like wealthy enough corporations”.
“I’m sure their costs are high, [and] teachers are unpaid” but “emotionally I [want] to say it’s not necessary” he added.
The university’s Director of Finance, Lee Hamill, noted in last year’s annual financial report that high demand helped generate “a record £1.4 billion” in total income for The University of Edinburgh’s income during the 22/23 financial year.
In an all-staff email in July, the university’s Vice-Chancellor, Sir Peter Mathiesen, revealed that a failure to meet recruitment targets in 2023-24 had created “a shortfall against our projected tuition fee income”.
The Vice-Chancellor partially attributed this to rising costs as well as decreased demand from international students because of “policy changes and rhetoric around student visas and immigration” by the previous UK Government.
In response to the proposed increase in tuition fees, Professor Sir Peter Mathieson told The Student:
“We are taking steps to manage our overall expenditure and maintain our strong position”, Mathieson said.
He added that the university is engaged in discussions to support the sector’s financial stability.
“Education is not a business – Student protests – Parliament Square, London 2010” by bobaliciouslondon is licensed under CC BY 2.0.