Here’s exactly how the rise in tuition fees will actually affect students

The government has finally announced that a rise in tuition fees for students. It can be quite hard to figure out from all the different news stories how this will actually affect UK uni students in real life. So, here’s a handy breakdown of what exactly is going on, and how it will impact you. Fear not – the increase in tuition fees isn’t as big or as intimidating as it first sounds.

The Tab also asked actual students about how the rise in student loans will affect them, so you can absorb their takes on it instead of the viewpoints of middle-aged newspaper columnists who haven’t been students since shoulder pads were cool.

How much are tuition fees going up by?

So, right now the maximum tuition fee unis are allowed to charge you (which basically all unis do charge you) is £9,250 each year. That’s stayed the same since 2017.

In the 2024/2025 academic year, unis in England will now be able to charge £9,535 a year. That’s £285 more.

Loads of UK unis are in their financial crisis era right now and have massive financial deficits. The government is hoping that this increase in tuition fees will help them out a bit.

It’s not a cheerful time to be a student

Students are not impressed that they’re being burdened with higher tuition fees when the cost of living for students is already so extortionate.

Caitlin Taylor from the University of Exeter complained, “Uni is already unaffordable as it is.”

“Could they just not? We’re broke already,” said Pebble Barling, a nursing student at Southampton Uni.

When will you actually have to pay the fees?

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At the moment, you have to start paying back your student loan once you’re earning over a certain amount of money. The salary threshold increased last year. Right now, it’s £25,000 in England, £24,990 in Northern Ireland, £27,295 in Wales and £31,395 in Scotland.

English students who started uni this year will get their loans written off anyway after 40 years. If you started uni earlier, it’s 30 years. This time span is also different for different places in the UK. It’s 25 years in Northern Ireland, and 30 years in Wales and Scotland.

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It is the first increase in tuition fees in England in eight years. #Uni #University #TuitionFees #UniFees #Students #Student #StudentLoans #Finances #England #UK #BBCNews

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Obviously, £285 more a year sounds scary. But when you consider that The Student Loans Company says most UK students will graduate with £48,470 in debt, that extra £855 doesn’t seem that massive in the grand scheme of things. This rise in tuition fees might not make UK students drastically more broke than they already are.

Several students aren’t hyped about the way the government has gone about this

For a lot of students, frustration over the rise in tuition fees comes more from the whole principle of the thing rather than the actual amount of money.

Back in 2020, when Keir Starmer was campaigning to become the leader of the Labour party, he promised to scrap tuition fees. In 2023, it became apparent that this wouldn’t be happening. Now the government has increased fees instead.

21-year-old Khushi Parekh is studying politics and social anthropology at the University of Edinburgh. She said, “I think it’s disgusting that the government can initially promise to get rid of tuition fees and then somehow manage to increase it. Even though it hasn’t been increased by a drastic amount it’s still the principle.

“Young people are already under a severe amount of debt from the moment they leave university and this isn’t going to incentivise new students to go to university at all.”

Rent has increased much more than maintenance loans have

Courtney Steers is studying media and communications at the University of Lincoln. She is frustrated that this increase in fees will impact students more than it will universities. She said, “Although it’s ‘only £285’ it’s really just going to cause people to not want to go to uni. Rates of people going to uni are already decreasing, and this sort of thing is just going to make it worse. And let’s face it, the unis that are struggling financially arent going to be saved with an £285 increase.

“It also feels like a slap in the face from the government, because a lot of young people pushed for Keir Starmer to be in power, and one of the main policies was scrapping these fees, and then they go the other way?”

Jen Senior from Lincoln Uni told The Tab, “t’s worrying how we have put so much trust in a financial situation that seems to be ever-changing. If I’d have known the financial struggles of joining uni I may have considered different options.”

Other students get that UK unis need reforming, but have lost hope that increasing tuition fees will make any real difference. Elizabeth Lambert, who’s a law student in Exeter, said, “Could they maybe encourage the unis to spend out current tuition on actually paying the lecturers more so they teach us better rather than making the campus look nice, then having to raise the fees to make up the difference?”

What about the maintenance side of things?

The high cost of living right now is deeply stressful for students

Bridget Phillipson, the Education Secretary, told Parliament on 4th November that maintenance loans will be going up to help students deal with the tragically high cost of living. She hasn’t specified yet how much more money students will be able to borrow, or when.

Ben Green, a student at Durham Univerity, isn’t bothered by the increase in tuition fees, because he’s much more stressed about how low maintenance loans are. He said, “Mainly I think it’s pretty arbitrary as it’s a small increase and won’t really impact my day to day life.

“The real issue is more maintenance loans being low than tuition fees being high. They’ve been at a steady rate for a long time so it doesn’t seem an unrealistic increase in this economic climate.”

It could be worse, people!

Manifesting happy thoughts

Just trying to stay positive here. Tuition fees have risen by a lot less than newspapers were predicting. The fees haven’t risen in line with inflation. The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) says students right now are paying the equivalent of 9 per cent less fees than they were in the 2020/2021 academic year.

Some uni students are relieved the fees aren’t going up by even more. Izzy, a 20-year-old geography student at the University of Cambridge, said, “I don’t think the increase is as much as people think it is. It’s £600 over the course of a three year undergrad degree, which isn’t as big an increase as it could have been.

“Obviously, as a student myself, it’s annoying. I don’t want an increase in tuition fees for others, but I also don’t think it’s as black-and-white as Labour deciding to increase tuition fees without any good reason. I think Labour had to find a middle ground where they could respond to calls from universities begging for increased tuition fees, while also aiding students as best they can.”