Students face higher tuition fees still
Kayleigh:
December 30th, 2007
Several universities in the UK have announced they will be charging thousands of students as much of £7,000 a year for their tuition fees.
The news comes as several universities say government ministers have cut their funding.
Instead, the money that is due to be cut from universities will be used to provide an extra 20,000 full-time places for undergraduates who have not already studied for degrees.
The cuts of around 100m a year will affect about 170,000 part-time students, as well as many others studying shorter full-time courses. The government say they are also cutting funding for those studying for their second degree.
The universities which have been hit worst by the cuts, which are due to come into force in September 2008 are Oxford University, who will lose £4m, and the Open University, set to lose over £30m.
Higher Education Minister Bill Rammell said: ”For the tax payer, funding people for a first degree has to be a higher priority than supporting those studying for a second degree.
“We have however been consulting on the detail of implementation and a whole range of second degrees such as vocational foundation degrees to help people re-skill will be protected. No university will lose in cash terms.”
Universities claim they have no other option but to charge students £7000 for a year of tuition, the same as what overseas students pay. But not everyone agrees with their decision.
The University and College Union’s (UCU) general secretary Sally Hunt said: “We fully support initiatives to encourage new learners into higher education but we cannot support doors being slammed in the faces of others who wish to develop their skills. These cuts completely undermine the Government’s desire to provide the workforce with accessible part-time provision.”
As a student myself, I am against increasing tuition fees, I think they are already high enough. The government claims they would like 50% of young adults to go to university, but I think they are being hypocrits by increasing the fees and putting off those bright, poor students out there who simply can not afford the governments hefty fees.
January 3rd, 2008 at 4:14 pm
[…] ignorantsoup wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptAs a student myself, I am against increasing tuition fees, I think they are already high enough. The government claims they would like 50% of young adults to go to university, but I think they are being hypocrits by increasing the fees … […]
January 5th, 2008 at 1:27 pm
I am a student myself and fed up with how much we have to pay just to get a degree. The government is always moaning about how youngsters nowerdays are too lazy and not pushing themselves for a good education, the reason for this is because we cant afford it!! they then offer free education for the ones who cant be arsed with education and increase prices for the ones who actually want to learn!?!? i am currently paying £3000 a year in tuition fees for a teacher one day a week, a technition who cant cope with the amount of students there are, we have to pay for pretty much everything we need including PAPER!!! and we dont even have our own classroom to work in, so if someone could inform me where this money is going id be pretty greatfull. i also recieved a letter the other day telling me im paying a ridiculous amount of interest on a loan i havnt even begun to pay back. The interest rate has doubled in the past year! So they are now getting double the amount of money from students in terms of tuition fees aswell as the interest we pay on these loans, and yet they still are cutting over millions of pounds worth of funding for universities. how can this make any sense!