Tuition fees are set to increase from 2025

The education secretary Bridget Philipson has announced that tuition fees are set to be increased in line with inflation. The increase will mark the first time undergraduate university fees have been raised since 2017.

Speaking on the decision to increase fees, the education secretary Bridget Phillipson said: “This government’s mission is to break down barriers to opportunity, which is why we are doing more to support students struggling with the cost of living despite the fiscal challenges our country faces.

“The situation we have inherited means this government must take the tough decisions needed to put universities on a firmer financial footing so they can deliver more opportunity for students and growth for our economy.”

The increase is set to come in from September 2025, meaning that next year’s intake of undergraduate students will be paying the higher rate of fees. Alongside the tuition fee increase, the government announced it will be increasing maintenance loans offered to students to cover living costs.

The decision to increase tuition fees has triggered a wave of reaction from across the political spectrum, including from leading figures and organisations on the left.

The former Labour leader (now an independent MP) Jeremy Corbyn said: “Labour’s decision to raise tuition fees is a disgrace. Government ministers might not be in Parliament today had they not benefited from free tuition. Now, they are lumping the next generation with even more student debt. Young people deserve better. Abolish tuition fees now.”

Green Party MP Ellie Chowns similarly said: “Tuition fees have forced universities to prioritize profit over education and put many at risk of bankruptcy, while students face extortionate interest rates – except for those wealthy enough not to need a loan. They have been a disaster and should be scrapped, not increased.”

The University and College Union (UCU), which represents academic staff also condemned the move to increase tuition fees. The union’s general secretary Jo Grady said: “The proposed hike to tuition fees is both economically and morally wrong. Taking more money from debt ridden students and handing it to overpaid underperforming vice-chancellors is ill conceived and won’t come close to addressing the sector’s core issues.

“As Keir Starmer himself said last year, the current fees system doesn’t work for students and doesn’t work for universities. The model is broken; it has saddled students with decades of debt, turned universities from sites of learning into corporations obsessed with generating revenue, and continually degraded staff pay and working conditions.”

The National Union of Students (NUS), made similar comments. The union’s vice president for higher education Alex Stanley said: “Higher education is in crisis right now. Students are being asked to foot the bill to literally keep the lights and heating on in their uni buildings and prevent their courses from closing down. This is – and can only ever be – a sticking plaster. Universities cannot continue to be funded by an ever-increasing burden of debt on students.  

“We do welcome the increase in maintenance loans. This money will make a real difference to the poorest students, and is a testament to the hard work of student campaigners over the past three years: right now, students are left with 50p per week to live on after rent and bills. 

“We do now need an urgent review and reform of the way that higher education and our students are funded. 

“Clearly, the current system is not working. The last fourteen years of intense marketisation have systematically run down the UK’s universities. Students need a review that considers maintenance grants, international student fees and tackling the funding crisis that students and universities have been pushed into.” 

Chris Jarvis is head of strategy and development at Left Foot Forward

Image credit: Socialist Appeal – Creative Commons

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