You’ll never get into a good university if you carry on like this.’ A haunting threat from school days past, but since the coalition trebled university tuition fees in 2010, the question is — do you really want to? The decision to increase fees to a maximum of £9,000 a year was met with anger from students and parents alike. Riots broke out with police arresting 153 people at a demo in Trafalgar Square. Widespread fury was particularly directed at Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, who had pledged to vote against any increase in fees — so much so that he was forced to broadcast a public apology: ‘We made a pledge, we did not stick to it, and for that I am sorry… it was a pledge made with the best of intentions’, he said.
Tuition fees were first introduced by Labour in 1998, with undergraduates obliged to pay £1,000 per year.
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