The Government has announced their plans to raise the cap for university tuition fees. This will see the cap raise from £9,250 to £9,535 in the 2025/2026 academic year.
Students are likely to be outraged by this rise as the Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer backed abolishing tuition fees when he ran for Labour leader in 2020.
This move by the new Labour Government has been expected for some months now as fears over the struggling university finances have been reiterated. Universities up and down the country have experienced a funding crisis due to a decline in international students. This decrease has come since previous Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and his Conservative Government implemented policies which made it more difficult for international students to bring family members to the United Kingdom with them whilst they study.
The history of the university tuition fee cap has been influenced by multiple governments and parties. The framework was first set in 1998 by the Labour government under Tony Blair’s leadership, a cap on £1,000 per year. This rose in 2006, still by Labour, to £3,000 a year.
Furthermore, in 2012 a huge increase was put in place by the coalition government of the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats. The £3,000 raised to £9,000. This came after the Liberal Democrats campaigned on removing fees, a defining error for the party which struggled in the years that followed. The cap rose again to £9,250 for the 2017/2018 academic year.
The Labour manifesto earlier this year left out any plans to raise tuition fees.
Bridget Phillipson, current Secretary of State for Education, announced these changes to the house just before 5pm today. She suggested university education quality has declined in recent years as the funding has decreased. Phillipson said, “we [the government] will secure the future of higher education.” Universities will welcome this rise as they hope to survive. However, there has not been any indication on whether this increase will become a common occurrence, perhaps increasing every year in line with inflation. Therefore, university officials are unlikely to be confident on the future of their institutions.
A sliver of better news has also been announced as maintenance loans are also set to increase by 3.1% next year, in line with projected inflation. However, it is doubtful this increase will alleviate the cost of living pressures faced by students.
Students are to be concerned that this increase will be a perpetual cycle, where the cap continues to be increased. The Government maintains that this increase will not change the repayment schemes of student loans as this is based on how much a person earns, not how much they owe. However, whether this reassures the students across the United Kingdom and here in Loughborough, remains to be seen. A disappointing day for students.
