Out-Law / Your Daily Need-To-Know
UK prime minister Theresa May has announced a freeze in fees charged for university tuition, coupled with a hike in the repayment threshold for student loans and a review of university funding.
The announcement was made ahead of the Conservative Party conference and confirmed by education secretary Justine Greening as part of a wider set of reforms to education and skills.
Tuition fees for the 2018/19 academic year, beginning next September, will be frozen at the current level of £9,250. Last year the parliament approved an annual rise of £250 from the original cap of £9,000, which took effect at the start of the current year and would have seen a further increase to £9,500 in 2018/19.
A Labour Party motion demanding that the government reverse the £250 hike this year was approved by the House of Commons last month after the Conservatives decided not to vote against it. However the government said that it was not bound by the motion.
The freeze comes just weeks after the Sunday Times reported the government was considering capping university tuition fees at £7,500. Any significant reduction in tuition fees could have a major impact on universities, which factor expected inflation-linked increases into budget planning.
Higher education expert Gayle Ditchburn of Pinsent Masons, the law firm behind Out-Law.com, said the freeze until the end of the 2018/19 year is unlikely to have a major detrimental effect for most universities.
“There wasn't a great expectation that the rise to £9,500 would happen, particularly in the light of the leak a few weeks ago that a drop to £7,500 was being considered. As charities, universities are quite conservative in their forecasts and budgets and so are likely to have planned for the status quo remaining,” said Ditchburn. “In the current economic climate, having a degree of certainty for the next two years will be of comfort.”
Ditchburn said universities were currently more concerned about their overall student numbers particularly in light of Brexit and the impact that this is already having on their intake of students from the EU. Currently EU students pay the same tuition fees as their domestic peers but after the UK's withdrawal, it is yet unclear whether they will be charged international level fees.
“There has been a fall in applications from the EU this year because EU students are concerned as to how they will be treated in the future,” Ditchburn said.
Meanwhile the earning threshold for student loan repayments will rise from £21,000 to £25,000, with the government saying this could mean up to an additional £360 a year for graduates. May also said in a BBC interview at the weekend that the government would carry out a wider review of university financing.
The government's list of new measures to improve education also included student loan reimbursements for science and modern language teachers, and bursaries for maths teachers.
Contact an adviser
