UNIVERSITY EDUCATION in England and Wales could cost students £12,000 a year by 2012, and even more in top-level colleges, following the Conservative/Liberal Democrat coalition’s acceptance that tuition fees must increase.
Liberal Democrats business secretary Vince Cable said his party’s pledge to scrap the existing £3,290-a-year tuition was “no longer feasible” given the pressures now faced by the exchequer.
However, his reversal, supported by his party’s leader and deputy prime minister Nick Clegg, threatens to provoke a rebellion by Liberal Democrat MPs when the issue is finally put to a vote in the House of Commons.
Saying that he found the recommendations of a report by former BP chief executive Lord Browne to be “persuasive” and “on the right lines”, Mr Cable defended the changes as “fair and progressive”.
Under the Browne plan, students would continue to get loans to pay the tuition fees, though they would not have to start paying back until they earn £21,000 per year, rather than £15,000-a-year under the current rules. Higher earners, too, would pay a higher interest rate.
Defending the measure, Mr Cable said 20 per cent of graduates would pay less than they would do now, while the top third would pay twice that of the bottom third. This satisfied his demands for higher contributions from those who go on to earn most.
Colleges would be discouraged from charging more than £6,000-a-year through a levy. If a university, for example, charges £12,000 per year, the government would take 27 per cent of the total – £3,240 – leaving the university with £8,760 per year per student, though the student will have £12,000 to pay back.
The system, if implemented, could encourage Oxford and Cambridge to remove themselves from state control, since Oxford, for example, gets just 8 per cent of its £850 million-a-year budget from government.
If the levies on £6,000-plus tuition fees are introduced, Oxford would find itself paying more over to the State than it receives. Both universities favour modelling themselves on top-flight US universities, who operate independently.
The Liberal Democrats’ past opposition to tuition fees is dearly held by its grassroots and was included in its 2010 election manifesto. However, it was dropped during negotiations with the Conservatives in May, though they won the right to abstain on any Commons vote.
During their party conference in Liverpool last month, delegates supported a motion calling on its leadership to “explore the possibility of building cross-party support around replacing tuition fees and student loans with a graduate tax system”, though Mr Cable abandoned that idea.
Two former party leaders, Menzies Campbell and Charles Kennedy, have publicly opposed increasing tuition fees, with Mr Campbell warning that his parliamentary vote could not be relied on.
* The North's Employment and Learning Minister Sir Reg Empey has signalled that Northern Ireland could be in line for significant increases in university tuition fees, writes Gerry Moriarty.
Sir Reg said that he had asked a Stormont taskforce to consider the implications of Lord Browne’s proposals for Northern Ireland.
