Brookes University to raise tuition fees to £9,250

Today, Oxford Brookes University has announced that they will be increasing tuition fees to £9,250 for full time UK and EU students.

Alistair Fitt, Vice-Chancellor at Oxford Brookes, sent out the email this morning to all students. He said: “The tuition fee increase across all years of UK/EU undergraduate entry will enable the university to invest more in the student experience.”

He goes on to say: “Existing EU and UK undergraduate tuition fee levels have remained the same for four years and have now reduced in value by more than five per cent in real terms”.

This is bad news for Brookes students who are going into their first and second year as the changes take effect from 2017/18. Brodie Woodgate, Biology, second year said: “It’s absolutely dreadful considering some people only have six contact hours a week and some have twenty-six. It just makes no sense.”

Ed Brook Shanahan, Digital Media Production, second year said: “Even at £9,000 a year, it makes private school look like a bargain. It’s unfair how only a few years ago it was £3,000 per year and now it’s over £9,000.”

Not only will they have to deal with £750 added to their already crippling debt, but this comes on top of Chancellor George Osbourne’s decision to scrap all maintenance grants. This seems like yet another move that the government have put in place in order to reduce the number of university applicants.

Sir Peter Lampl, chairman of the Sutton Trust and of the Education Endowment Foundations, has commented that the poorer students are being penalised.

However, the government has said that a tuition fee increase can only take place once the proposal receives formal parliamentary approval and a university meets expectations in the new Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF).

Given the current cost of living in Oxford as well could this see a dip in university applications for Brookes come the next academic year?