Tuition fees increase for first time since 2017 – initial thoughts

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Yesterday, Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson announced to the Commons plans to increase university tuition fees in England for the first time in eight years. The changes, which (currently) only affect next year’s intake, will increase the cost of study from £9250 to £9535 per year.

There will be a simultaneous increase to the student maintenance loans, providing an extra £414 per year for low income families. Both adjustments are linked to RPI inflation, and could be followed by further increases at next year’s spending review.

The changes come in the context of a university sector at the “tipping point” of financial crisis. Philipson told MPs, “It is no use keeping tuition fees down for future students if the universities are not there for them to attend.”

Here are some of our writers’ first reactions:

Callum Martin

It speaks to the strength of the government’s position that, only a few weeks after alienating pensioners with cuts to the winter fuel allowance, it is willing to do the same to students over tuition fees. It takes a level of confidence only provided by a large parliamentary majority to piss off one of your largest voter bases.

But at this stage in his premiership, it’s clear that the Prime Minister is not afraid to be unpopular. Which is handy, considering that his approval ratings have tanked 49 points since the election. 

Backlash to the announcement has been exacerbated by the fact that Starmer pledged to abolish student fees entirely when he ran for Labour leader, a foolish promise to make given the already obvious financial difficulties facing the sector.

A combination of austerity, rising costs, Brexit and falling student numbers had meant by the late 2010s, several universities including Leicester, Portsmouth and Brighton were already facing financial struggles, and the impact of Covid and frozen fees has subsequently sent the sector into something of a death spiral. The Office for Students estimates that 40% of higher education institutions will operate at a deficit this year, so clearly something had to give.

It’s not as simple as the government turning on the taps. Aside from the dire state of the country’s finances, excessive state funding means that students are effectively subsidised by the taxes of people who chose not to go to university, an outcome many consider unfair. And given that some University bosses are floating a figure around £12,500, this relatively minor increase could have been a lot worse.

But it’s likely that more increases are to come, and it’s a tough pill to swallow for students already facing an inaccessible housing ladder and shrinking job market. Working-class students will inevitably be hit hardest; the impact may be negated in the short term by the increased maintenance loan, but it is still money to be paid back eventually.

The University funding crisis is a tricky fix, and I don’t claim to have the answers. But considering university Vice-Chancellors are raking in an average salary of £325,000, reducing their pay might be a start.

Katie Matthews

Upon hearing the news about the tuition fee rise, I couldn’t help but feel a little deflated. The priorities of universities have always felt separate from the education they are supposed to provide. 

So, I posed the question to my friends on a pub trip last night. The overall conclusion is it’s not the money itself that’s bothered students, it’s the principle of the thing. 

One friend made an interesting point that this hike in University fees has rather conveniently coincided with the Autumn Budget, leaving many to put two and two together. 

Another said that after the strikes from professors in the last two years, students want their lecturers and tutors to be fairly paid.

Recent research has shown Exeter as the second most expensive city or town for students to pay rent, averaging at £8,558, almost 2 grand more than in Cardiff. Either Exeter’s uni houses are divine (I can confirm they’re not), or student housing, alongside cost of food, societies, sport memberships and tuition fees are making student life in Exeter exponentially more challenging for those without financial support from their families. At least the price of a pint has dropped by 1 pence. 

The reality is that this rise isn’t a crazy amount of money, and there is an excellent system of loan repayment for students. But it just feels disrespectful to students who were already frequently posing the question: “where does our money even go?”

Rosie Peters-McDonald

An increase in tuition fees — even if only 3.1% — shows that this government are willing to write off the needs of students, especially those from lower income backgrounds. The government is ‘calling on universities to do their bit to support disadvantaged students.’ Doesn’t that seem a little bit hypocritical now, especially given how costly student life has become for us (and now even more so for next year’s intake of students)?

For those from working class backgrounds, fees of £9250 a year were already a barrier: unless the government and universities make severe alterations to the means-testing of maintenance loans and grants — and that doesn’t just mean a 3.1% rise — I can’t see how another generation of working class, aspirational students won’t be demoralised.

Even in principle the current increase is concerning. If in their first year in government Labour has decided to increase fees by this amount, what changes can we expect to see in the future? The Labour Party emphasised change in their campaign. Most people wouldn’t have expected this to be negative change for working people.

It could be time to start thinking about remodelling our higher education system, and rejigging government funding in a way that puts higher education facilities, whether or not those are universities, first. Accessibility should be a core value of any governing body. As a student I’d be interested to see whether the University will adjust their Access & Participation plans in line with the increase in tuition fees, and thus a rise in our cost of living.

Magda Kanecka

Hearing the news, a lot comes to mind. On the one hand, and as you can expect from undergraduate students in general, it is tempting to be reluctant and unhappy about this – especially because Keir Starmer is undoubtedly breaking his promise to maintain the current price of tuition fees. We may not see the hefty nine thousand pounds leave our bank accounts directly, but it is still our money. The student budget, a lot of the time, is not made for such sudden increases – especially after our Prime Minister promised not to do this.  

Yet, on the other hand, I can’t help but recognise and take note of the fact that the higher education sector has been demanding this increase – or a general increase in government funding – for the past few months. Many institutions claim that this is necessary to maintain an up-to-date standard of learning and research, which makes sense – but why at the students’ cost?  

The debate around university funding is tricky because it differs for everyone based on their background – yet increasing tuition fees will definitely not help our government stop the stigma around university and higher education being a primarily middle-class field that many choose not to go into in fear of debt. The average debt for an undergraduate student by the time they finish their degree is estimated to be around £43,700 in the academic year 2023-24 – you don’t need a degree to realise that this is a very high financial burden, especially to those from poorer backgrounds. Raising tuition fees will arguably only make this worse. 

Maya Dallal

Considering that the rise in tuition fees is only projected to affect the 2025/2026 academic year, it is hardly the solution to universities’ financial problems. One year of raised tuition is too short-term to have a meaningful impact on supplanting rising costs of teaching, according to the IFS. 

University tuition in the UK was free up until 1998, when fees were introduced by the Labour Party, ending a period of high public investment. The real solution to the cost of education is for the government to fund public universities properly as they did for many years, which means improving their taxation policies. Taxing the upper class more would ease the current financial burdens plaguing the country, like an underfunded NHS and under-staffed universities. Rather than placing the onus to combat rising costs on the citizens, it should be on the government.  

The rise in fees will primarily affect working-class students, for whom the added 285 pounds could pay over a month’s worth of bills.  The rise in tuition fees is yet another block to working class citizens from seeking higher education. The current university system is incredibly biased towards upper class students whose parents have enough disposable income to pay fees, rent, and living expenses, while working class students struggle to get by. University tuition fees should be abolished so that all students have equal opportunities, and this rise in fees is a tragic symbol of the classism in this country.