RHUL have proposed to increase tuition fees for 2017/18

Yesterday, Royal Holloway announced that they intend to increase tuition fees to £9250 for the academic year 2017/18 following ‘Government Confirmation’. The so-called ‘Government Confirmation’ is linked to the Government’s plans to allow universities to increase tuition fees along inflation if they have high quality teaching.

However, as stated by the Labour MP Gordon Marsden, the inflation link on tuition fees means that there is no guarantee on how high fees could rise. In a time of economic uncertainty following Brexit it is not clear at this present moment how high inflation could rise in the coming months as the economy stabilizes. This means that tuition fees past the academic year 2017/18 could rise beyond £9250.

Reaction from students so far has been to reject these proposed changes, as they have been deemed to exacerbate educational inequality. Leah Hewerdine, a Trustee for the Student’s Union says, “Education is not a privilege, it’s a right. Raising tuition fees even higher makes university far less accessible to prospective students from lower income families.”

To show student support against the Government’s changes and to the University planning to increase tuition fees, The Royal Holloway Labour Society has created a petition.