UK Tuition fees to be set at Max

[Minischoles]

When the rise in tuition fees was announced, the government insisted that not every University would charge the maximum fee, but guess what

Some of the worst universities in the country plan to charge students close to the maximum fee of £9,000 a year and not one of them plans to charge average fees of £6,000 a year or less – the level which ministers said would be the norm when they announced the controversial proposals. Most of the bottom 20 plan to charge more than £7,500 a year.

Universities had until yesterday to indicate privately if they intended to charge more that £6,000 a year for students entering higher education in 2012 – although they have until later this month to set their exact fee levels.

The Independent understands that every single university in England and Wales has expressed an interest in charging more and that the Office for Fair Access, which universities have to inform of their plans, is taking on additional staff to cope. At least 60 universities will announce they intend to charge £9,000 a year. This is despite a pledge by David Cameron that universities would only be able to charge £9,000 in "exceptional circumstances"

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/educa ... 58902.html

So turns out that not only have universities gone back on promises to admit more students from state schools, but the moment that they're allowed to increase tuition fees they're almost all going to charge as close to the maximum as possible, including the ones that do poorly.
Instead of saving the government money, this could actually cost them more than £1billion extra a year as they have to pay the fees up front and saddle any potential graduate with debt for pretty much the rest of their working life - that's if they ever pay it back, as more than 70% never do.

£83,791 The amount a student will have to pay back if they borrow £39,000 (£9,000 a year in fees and £4,000 a year for maintenance over a three-year course), then begin their career on average earnings, get a £2,000 pay rise a year, and pay back entire debt after 25 years

From the same story, nearly £85,000 worth of debt for every student that graduates from a normal 3 year course.

[Chirios]

Well lads and lasses, the idea that lower and middle class people should have a chance was nice while it lasted. I'll see you in the sweatshops.

[Eternal_Freedom]

This is hardly unexpected. The government where incredibly naive to think university's wouldn't charge as much as they could as soon as they could.

Good call on that one, Dave and Nick. Fuckers.

[Falarica]

As Eternal says, this isn't a surprise at all.

Makes me wonder if Tories made absolutely sure that the increase in tuition fees was kept in the coalition agreement just to discredit the LibDems.

[TC27]

The Lib Dems actually had to deal with financial reality when they went into goverment....they deserve all the gyp they get from disgruntled supporters for milking the student vote with unrealistic promises when they were in opposition.

That said I think the goverment should have done this as a progressive graduate tax scheme rather than upfront fees though its effectively the same thing.

Well lads and lasses, the idea that lower and middle class people should have a chance was nice while it lasted. I'll see you in the sweatshops

Thats somewhat melodramatic but its going to be a hard decision for the average 18 year old to try and guess if their degree will earn them enough to justify the PAYE deductions down the line.

[Tribun]

£85,000 for three years?

I have problems even imagining this, as in Germany even in the most expensive areas, you only have to pay at maximum 3,000€ for three years in university. Hell, I only have to pay 120€ per half a year.

What's actually their reasoning for practically plundering students?

[Eternal_Freedom]

The answers "because they can" and "because people will still be willing to pay that much after a little while," as evidenced by how we brits put up with paying so much for petrol.

[Steel]

£85k is the final repayment of the debt, not what is paid to the university.

The article says that the total debt is £39k, of which £27k is fees, £12k is living expenses over the 3 years.

When you pay back that debt over 25 years the interest brings it to ~£85k of actual money repaid.

[HMS Sophia]

Does anyone know what figure Salford Uni will be charging? It's where I am, and It's where my wife will be going.

Also: Fuck them. Which dick head thought any Uni wouldn't charge the maximum. I know I wouldn't go to University if it meant paying this much, had it happened two years ago.
Will the students loans be keeping up with this? I can only assume so, but knowing this country...

[Zaune]

We've tolerated fuel duty so far because it's still possible to have a job and a social life in this country without owning a car; it can be extremely inconvenient and it isn't always that much cheaper, but those who can't or won't pay fuel duty are not under any obligation to do so.

A university education... not so much, even if degrees are overrated as a measurement of competency in the workplace outside a few specific areas. It would of course help if vocational education in this country wasn't such a mess.

[aerius]

Will the students loans be keeping up with this? I can only assume so, but knowing this country...

Depends on what the bankruptcy rules are for student loans in the UK. In Canada we can discharge student loans through bankruptcy, in the US you can't, if the UK is like the US then you can bet that loans will keep up with it so that the banks and other lenders can make you into a debtslave for life.

[Psychic_Sandwich]

Student loans here aren't done by banks, though. They're done through the Student Loans Company, which is basically the government. I think there was consideration given to selling them off at one point, but the Con-Dems couldn't gather the political will for such an unpopular move given the relatively small short term payoff and the long term loss of revenue. I don't doubt that they will try again, though!

The upshot is that, if you get a student loan (as opposed to getting a loan from a bank while you're a student), you're insulated from banks and so forth fucking you over, but very exposed to the government being dicks.

[HMS Sophia]

The upshot is that, if you get a student loan (as opposed to getting a loan from a bank while you're a student), you're insulated from banks and so forth fucking you over, but very exposed to the government being dicks.

And boy, do they love doing that.
Admittedly it's nice to be able to pay it back at only like £20 a month, but it does stay with you for 50-odd years

[Soldier of Entropy]

Ok, I know that in the UK and other European nations, some tax money traditionally went to the cost of higher education. However, £9000 is about $14500, about the in-state annual tuition (not total cost) of a state school in the US. My annual tuition is more than double that. Just how much of a raise in cost is this?

[HMS Sophia]

Its about 3 times what it was...
I pay around £3000 a year tuition currently...

[Danny Bhoy]

Who would have thunk it? 12 years ago, the UOL colleges were charging close to 7k quid a year to foreign (i.e. non EU) students like me in non-lab courses (the non-London redbrick ones say in the Midlands were 1k or so less). They were also just beginning to charge local students fees of 1300k (IIRC) for the same type of courses. Now they're charging 9k a year to local students? Inflation's a real bitch or the UK's really going to financial hell in a basket.

[aerius]

Ok, I know that in the UK and other European nations, some tax money traditionally went to the cost of higher education. However, £9000 is about $14500, about the in-state annual tuition (not total cost) of a state school in the US. My annual tuition is more than double that. Just how much of a raise in cost is this?

I just looked up the tuition fee table for the University of Ottawa where I got my degree, holy crap, you guys are getting ass raped.

[Soldier of Entropy]

I just looked up the tuition fee table for the University of Ottawa where I got my degree, holy crap, you guys are getting ass raped.

Well, I have a 50% (of full cost, which is about $25000/semester) scholarship+student loans (about $5000/year is loans), and I am fortunate enough that my grandparents, who died relatively young, left a large educational fund for their grandchildren that pays the rest. If either of those hadn't been the case, I'd be attending a state school. Most of my friends here got 'National Merit Honor' by getting a high enough grade on the PSAT standardized tests; my university, Northeastern, gives them all full tuition and partial housing/mealplan, though they have to do 100 hours community service per year (I'd do it gladly).

But yeah, it's expensive.

[evilsoup]

So turns out that not only have universities gone back on promises to admit more students from state schools, but the moment that they're allowed to increase tuition fees they're almost all going to charge as close to the maximum as possible, including the ones that do poorly.

It should be noted that the government previously payed about £4000/year for each student, while the £3000(ish) was made up by the students. This has been cut, so the universities have to up their fees to at least ~£7000. So it is wrong to blame the universities for the government's fuckheadery.

[Big Orange]

I don't particularily like Labour either, but they claimed they initially introduced tuition fees so that those fees would be used to patch up college and university funding that was scaled back by the Torytards back in the 1980s and first half of the 90s. I can deal with tuition fees in of itself, but they've been violently jacked up in conjunction to the UK youth fighting a losing battle against ridiculous property prices and job availability/security getting eroded by outsourcing/automation/immigration.

[Teebs]

Well lads and lasses, the idea that lower and middle class people should have a chance was nice while it lasted. I'll see you in the sweatshops.

Apart from the fact that you pay nothing up front and only make repayments when earning over a certain amount and IIRC the loans only increase with inflation. So actually it's just a graduate income tax under a different name.

It stops absolutely no one from going to university because repayments are based entirely on how much you earn *after* university. It might make you think that the increase in your earning power gained by getting a degree is lower than the cost to your future earning power of making repayments, but that is very different to saying it stops poorer people from going.