Students Face Steep Rise In Tuition Fees

Fri, 11 Jun 2010

UK students should pay more in university tuition fees to help boost university funding and ease "the burden on the taxpayer", a Government minister has claimed.

Speaking yesterday at Oxford Brookes University, universities minister David Willetts indicated that annual tuition fees would have to rise from their current level of £3,225 in a bid to improve the standard of higher education institutions.

He also hinted that interest rates on low-cost student loans, which tax payers some £1.2 billion a year, could also be increased.

He said: "If fees were to go up, the Government would have to lend people the money to pay for them – and that would push up public spending."

"It’s not just that students don’t want to pay higher fees: the Treasury can’t afford them. So the arrangements we have now are clearly unable to respond to the current economic climate."

He added that Labour had failed to force universities to improve teaching standards despite the extra cash raised by the introduction of tuition fees .

The Russell Group, which represents the 20 leading British universities, recently said that its members would be in favour of charging higher tuition fees, claiming that this is the best way to maintain the high status of UK universities . They also recommended increasing the current student loan interest rate.

However, the National Union of Students (NUS) said that removing the cap on fees could result in students graduating with debts of over £40,000.
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