| Tuition fees and student loan costs should rise, says Browne review • Fees could go up to £7,000 as £10,000 figure rejected• Funding squeeze for arts also proposedTuition fees should be raised to create a market in higher education and the cost of student loans increased to a "real rate of interest", a report into university finance is expected to say next week.Lord Browne, who is conducting an independent review, will say tuition fees which are capped at £3,290 a year, should be raised to as much as £7,000.A higher figure of £10,000 had been considered, but one source said Browne recognises the tuition fee figure would be the most "toxic" part of the report, due to be published on Tuesday.Rather than raise fees to this level, Browne is expected to say that the 1.5% interest rate on student loans should rise to a market rate. The loans are a very cheap form of debt which are subsidised by the taxpayer.The review has also looked at where the minimum income threshold for repaying loans should be set and how long the period of repayment should be.Increasing the interest rate would allow universities to charge more, and students to borrow more, without increasing the burden on the taxpayer.A dramatic increase in income would mean elite universities are protected to some extent from deep cuts to budgets over the next few years but up to 40 universities – a quarter of the sector – will struggle as they rely on poorer students who may be put off by fears of debt.Browne is expected to say that a quarter of university fee income should go on supporting students.Elite universities including Cambridge and Imperial College London told the Guardian recently they were keen to create a more lavish bursary system to support students from lower and "middle income" households.The Browne review is also expected to propose that the government could reduce costs by squeezing funding for the arts, social sciences and humanities. This would imperil the future of institutions such as Roehampton University or Goldsmiths, University of London.The review is expected to lay out a framework of options rather than make explicit recommendations.Ministers believe that some applicants might be better suited to vocational learning, but are also aware that the upward trend in young people seeking university places will be hard to reverse.A total of 463,000 students accepted a place at university this year, a rise of 11,000 on last year.The universities minister David Willetts told a fringe meeting at the Conservative party's conference this week: "We're not bound by what John Browne says, we have to assess his proposals against the different benchmarks that we set out in the coalition agreement."There are a series of different objectives that we have for a graduate contribution scheme and there are some tricky trade-offs between them."The Lib Dems have been issuing heavy signals they expect the government to move towards some form of graduate contribution. Backbenchers appear to have been placated by noises made by their cabinet ministers on the issue, and some even think that a graduate contribution will come to be one of their proudest moments in the coalition.The government's three key objectives are to establish a system that maintains a financial link between a graduate and the university they attended, that encourages universities to focus more on teaching, and that does not deter children from the poorest backgrounds.Willetts said: "There is no perfect solution but I hope that we can deliver a solution that contributes to all objectives."While coalition ministers are sincere about promoting social mobility, they are also prepared to endorse a market in fees. "It's understandable that many universities say, whatever form your graduate contribution takes, can we get beyond a single national rate," Willetts said."I think the previous government intended something like that to happen but because in their system the fees cap was so low, they didn't achieve it."Areport for management consultants the Berkshire Consultancy published today underlines the scale of the challenge facing universities. A survey of 30 deputy vice-chancellors found two-thirds expect a significant short-fall in funding.Nine out of 10 believe closures are possible in the next decade and almost a third admit their university is struggling.Tuition feesHigher educationStudentsEducation policyJeevan VasagarJessica ShepherdAllegra Strattonguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Wife's 'overdose after shooting' A woman shot her husband in his sleep at their Flintshire home before taking an overdose herself, an inquest hears. bbc.co.uk |
Expenses: peers expenses cheats 'were victims of racism' Three Asian peers suspended from Parliament after cheating the taxpayer out of tens of thousands of pounds in wrongly claimed expenses are the victims of 'racism,' a Labour lord has alleged. telegraph.co.uk |
Clegg claims fees debate could deter poor from applying to university Pressure mounts on 57 Lib Dem MPs in coalition as Labour forces issue on plan to raise tuition fees to £9,000 a yearRuctions in the government over plans to raise university fees will be forced into the open today when Labour triggers a vote in the House of Commons that could bring about the first rebellion of the coalition.MPs will debate the plan to raise tuition fees to £9,000 a year as students stage their third and largest national demonstration against the plans. Last night the deputy prime minister, Nick Clegg, wrote to the head of the National Union of Students appealing to students not to distort the debate over fees, saying that many believe wrongly that they will have to pay fees immediately instead of when they graduate. Clegg warned of potentially "tragic" consequences whereby the poorest would be put off applying at all.Coalition MPs are under a three-line whip to attend the opposition day debate on a Labour-authored motion that falls short of opposing higher fees, but calls for the white paper on the future of universities to properly explain the plans before the Commons votes on the fee cap.It is carefully worded so that Liberal Democrats in the coalition could vote against the rest of the government without ultimately killing off the planned increase in fees. If they do rebel, it could aid behind-the-scenes efforts to win concessions before the plans are voted on in parliament within the next two weeks.John Denham, the shadow business secretary, said: "What we're trying to achieve is to show that parliament is being railroaded into a decision just on the fee cap when there are crucial questions on how the policy would work that haven't been answered with a proper white paper."The Labour move comes amid mounting pressure on all 57 Lib Dems in the coalition. Yesterday a petition signed by 104 former parliamentary candidates for the Lib Dems, essentially representing the party's grassroots, called on Clegg to abide by the pre-election pledge to vote against higher fees. Research published today suggests that the higher fees will profoundly damage social mobility.One option the leadership is considering is organising a mass abstention to avoid any damaging splits. A party source said that Clegg was still in "listening mode" while also pressing for more concessions and trying to avoid a full-scale rebellion. Clegg's letter to Aaron Porter, president of the NUS, argued that the proposed system was fair because it ends upfront fees for part-time students and raises the repayment threshold to when a graduate is earning £21,000. He warned it would be a "tragedy if we inadvertently allowed our debate about the methods to damage our shared goal" to encourage more students from poorer homes to go to university.Analysis by the lobbying group representing new universities, Million +, suggests the reforms will limit social mobility and see almost two-thirds of graduates paying much more for a degree than they do now. The "triple whammy" of higher fees, real interest rates for loans and a longer debt write-off period is likely to represent a bad deal for taxpayers and will leave between 60% and 65% of graduates worse off, with middle-income earners hit hardest, according to the study.Allowing universities to charge £9,000 a year will result in many women spending most of their working lives in debt, while pupils from poor families and mature students will be put off applying, it said.Million+, which represents 28 former polytechnics, said the findings discredited the coalition's insistence that the moves were progressive. It claims the changes will leave taxpayers worse off because the government will have to borrow more to fund higher loans and pick up a bigger bill for debts written off after 30 years. Write-off costs are likely to rise from 27.5p in the pound to at least 36p, it estimates.Nick CleggTuition feesHigher educationEqualityPovertyStudentsLabourHouse of CommonsLiberal DemocratsLiberal-Conservative coalitionPolly CurtisRachel Williamsguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
More pictures of snow in Britain Snowstorms and freezing temperatures hit parts of the country. telegraph.co.uk |