The Government has hiked tuition fees for English students by £285 today just a week after the Budget failed to mention “students” even once.
Nick Miao Editor-in-Chief and Robert Delaney Online Editor
The Government has announced that it will raise tuition fees by £285 for the first time in eight years alongside a 3.1% increase in maintenance loans for English students today.
It comes less than a week after the 170-page-long Autumn Budget announced by Chancellor Rachel Reeves last Wednesday included zero mentions of the word “students”.
The Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said the Government is raising tuition fees to help universities cope with rising costs after figures show 40% of English universities are expected to run a deficit this year.
The Prime Minister Keir Starmer previously pledged to abolish tuition fees when he was running for Labour leader in 2020, but later ditched this promise to prioritise tackling NHS waiting lists.
Apart from the fee hike, today’s announcement of a 3.1% lift to the maintenance loan borrowing cap will see those on the maximum English student loan receive an additional £414 a year.
The National Union of Students welcomed the announcement, calling it a “bitter-sweet moment” that put “desperately needed money back into students’ pockets”, but warned that “We can’t fund higher education sustainably by putting students into more and more debt.”
Earlier this year, the BBC revealed that almost two million students are in more than £50,000 of student debt.
Students’ unions across the country were already critical of the Budget as higher education doesn’t seem to make the Government’s list of priorities.
The Russell Group Students’ Unions, a collective of 24 unions in the academic grouping of top UK universities, said last week that it was “disappointed” the Budget “fail[ed] to address the urgent issues facing students in higher education.”
In response to the Government’s announcement today, it said: “Whilst we agree that universities need more financial support, we do not think this burden should be put on students.”
UCL Union President Goksu Danaci added: “Today’s announcement feels like a sticking plaster for the sector”, noting that the Union has seen its highest level of demand from its financial support funds this year amid ongoing cost of living pressures.
We took to Instagram to ask how our readers felt about the fee hike today.
In general, responses express disappointment and a sense of betrayal. One response read: “In all honesty, I feel no matter the party this was going to come no matter.”
Another response said: “Madness when Spence is not sparing any ex-Spence [very good – Ed] on his own wage”, referencing the Provost’s eye-watering salary, amounting to over half a million pounds in 2022-23.
One student noted that they are “changing from a four-year degree to a three-year degree [as] it was already expensive. But now it’s just stupid.”
After Starmer abandoned the pledge to abolish fees last year, the Education Secretary reassured graduates that they would still “pay less under Labour”.
But today’s announcement does not appear to address reports that students no longer believe that their degrees are good value for money.
Last year, the RGSU’s Student Cost of Living Report found that 57% of students did not feel confident about finding work after graduation and 43% regularly worried about their student loan repayments.
It raises questions about the Government’s commitment to addressing the concerns of students across the UK.