Degree fees could reach Ł15,000

Minister raises prospect of middle class families paying more for their children's higher education

Rebecca Smithers, education correspondent
Saturday November 16, 2002

The Guardian

Higher education minister Margaret Hodge yesterday raised the prospect of middle-class families having to pay tuition fees of Ł15,000 for a typical three-year university degree course, in the clearest indication yet from the government that students will have to contribute more to the cost of their education.
In what was seen as an exercise to soften up the public for having to foot more of the bill for higher education, Mrs Hodge asked whether it was right to ask the "dustmen to subsidise the doctor" given the current government subsidy of up to Ł4,000 a year even for students who paid the full Ł1,100 annual fee.
As revealed by the Guardian yesterday, she warned of the worsening crisis in universities. Addressing senior university staff at a London conference of the umbrella group, Universities UK, she said students had a high rate of return from their degrees, with better job prospects and a higher earning capacity. To cater for the growing number of students and to rectify a "generation of underfunding", students would have to contribute more towards their education costs, she insisted.
Mrs Hodge said she welcomed the contribution to the current debate by former education minister Stephen Byers. In an article for the Guardian yesterday which is believed to reflect Downing Street's preferred policy, Mr Byers called for a cap on tuition fees of Ł3,000. He also said that students whose parents earn less than Ł25,000 a year should be exempt from tuition fees, but that some universities needed to be able to charge higher, or top-up fees.
The government is to publish a long-delayed paper on university funding in January, although it is still not clear at this stage whether it will favour raising the existing annual fee of Ł1,100, introducing top-up tuition fees, or a form of graduate tax. But yesterday Mrs Hodge stated categorically that students' individual contributions would have to rise to pay for the funding crisis.
She also antagonised student leaders by claiming that many young people from working class backgrounds decided not to go to university because of a lack of aspiration rather than the fear of debt and financial worries.
Her remarks ensured that the controversial debate over funding will continue to rage. In the Queen's speech debate yesterday, education secretary Charles Clarke repeated Labour's manifesto pledge that it would not introduce top-up fees in the lifetime of the current parliament, which means it is still a possibility after 2006. More than 120 Labour MPs have signed statements opposing top-up fees, and many cabinet ministers - including Mr Clarke himself - are known to be personally uncomfortable about the prospect.
The issue is not clear-cut among universities. On Thursday, Cambridge University signalled its fears about top-up fees, issuing a statement urging the government to look at other ways of addressing the financial crisis facing the higher education sector.

Professor Roderick Floud, president of UUK, rejected Mrs Hodge's claim that fear of debt was not the prime reason why working class children did not apply to university and said a graduate tax would be more fair than up-front fees. "Uncertainty about whether people are going to have to pay fees is a deterrent," he said.
Sally Hunt, general secretary of the Association of Union Teachers,
commented: "We're totally opposed to any moves towards making students pay up-front tuition fees for their courses and will stand shoulder-to-shoulder with students on this issue. Making students pay the cost of their courses, up front, would make matters worse for students across the country, most of whom are already massively in debt and could dissuade potential students from non-traditional backgrounds.
Mandy Telford, national president of the National Union of Students,
said: "I am amazed that the minister actually has such a poor understanding of the real problems in higher education. For her to dismiss student debt out of hand and suggest that financial problems are not the main reason that students do not go on to higher education is simply not true."

Guardian Unlimited Š Guardian Newspapers Limited 2002

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