Huge changes are coming to UK uni fees and loans – here’s how this will impact students

The UK government just announced some big changes to how fees and maintenance loans will work for students at UK unis. Some UK students could receive more money to help them study, but uni could get way more expensive for international student. Here’s a rundown of the changes to uni grants and fees, and what they could actually mean for students.

Maintenance grants are making a comeback

The education secretary Bridget Phillipson is bringing back maintenance grants. Some UK uni students did used to get these, but George Osborne scrapped them back in 2016.

Students from low income households will be able to apply for a maintenance grant to help cover the cost of living while they study at a university or a higher education college. The government’s plan describes the grants as “targeted” and “means-tested”. The point of this is to make UK university more affordable, which would be pretty terrific. Students would receive grants as well as money from maintenance loans – which have already gone up for this academic year.

However, the grants will only be available to students taking subjects the UK government sees as a “priority”. The announcement defines this as “courses aligned with the government’s missions and the industrial strategy at Levels 4 to 6 under the Lifelong Learning Entitlement, including technical qualifications and degrees”.

In some parts of the UK, rent already costs more money than students get as a maintenance loan

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Nobody has specified yet exactly which subjects that will be. Higher apprenticeships count as Level 4 qualifications, foundation degrees count as Level 5 qualifications, and undergrad degrees are Level 6. So, the government won’t be dishing out extra cash to fund your panic Master’s degree. Sorry.

International students will have to pay more money

The government aims to fund all these extra grants by adding a six per cent levy to tuition fees for international students at UK universities. The levy will only apply to unis in England.

International students already have to pay way more money to study the same course that UK students do. Tuition fees have just gone up for UK students to £9,535. Different courses at different unis cost varying amounts for international students, but most unis charge something in the realm of £23,000 to £50,000 per year. Good Lord.

Erm, your uni could end up with even less money

Loads of UK unis are really, really struggling for cash right now. Many unis are already resorting to drastic cuts, such as limiting the subjects they offer or axing jobs. Even fancy Russell Group unis have racked up huge deficits. Generally speaking, UK unis blame being broke on higher running costs and a big drop in international students.

Queen Mary University of London is restructuring its departments and cutting jobs

A report from the Higher Education Policy Institute (HEPI) found that a six per cent levy could cost UK unis £600 million a year. Unis with lots of international students would be impacted the most. 19 of them would have to cough up more than £10 million a year. University College London (UCL) could miss out on a whopping £42 million. The levy could cost the University of Manchester £27 million, King’s College London (KCL) £22 million, Imperial College London £21 million, and the University of Leeds £20 million. Yikes.

Some experts reckon that if unis cope with this levy by putting up fees for international students, even less of them will want to study here, and so unis will lose out on even more of that income. Jonathan Simons from the Public First think tank estimates this change could result in UK unis having 77,000 fewer international students, and needing to cut places for 135,000 UK students over the first five years.

Erm, I hope we all still get free pizza at Freshers’ Fairs…

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