Raising university tuition fees will only delay the inevitable

Universities in the UK desperately needed Bridget Phillipson’s announcement this afternoon of a rise in tuition fees. The Education Secretary has said they will rise from £9,250, to £9,535 next year and £10,500 by 2029. This was necessary if only to offset the effect of last week’s Budget announcement of a 1.2 per cent rise in employers’ NI and the reduction in the threshold at which it becomes payable; that alone will saddle them with extra costs of just under £400 million a year. 

All this aside, the institutions are already in deep trouble. Fees for domestic students do not cover costs. The previous practice of trying to make ends meet by an increased recruitment of higher-paying foreign students, relatively successful until about five years ago, has become more difficult. The removal by the outgoing Tory government of foreign students’ rights to bring extended families with them was entirely understandable – but it did have the side-effect of reducing the attractiveness of UK universities.