University top-up fees were a very awkward electoral issue for the Labour government in the 2005 general election. So it is not surprising that in the present election campaign, fees have been kept at bay. The issue of whether full-time undergraduates should have to pay to go to university is still live – but not quite kicking, since the current review of fees, under Lord Browne, will not report until after the May election.
Variable top-up fees of up to £3,000 a year were introduced in 2006, together with a grant and interest-free loan student support system. Part of the deal brokered to get Parliament’s approval was that fees had to be reviewed after the first three years. The Browne review is to make recommendations to the government later this year on the future of fees policy and financial support for full and part-time undergraduate and postgraduate students.
In the election campaign, the Labour party has skirted round the fees issue. The Labour manifesto, simply noting that the Browne review would report later this year, said the party’s policy was to ensure that ‘universities and colleges have a secure, long-term funding base that protects world-class standards in teaching and research’. While the Conservatives’ manifesto said they would ‘carefully consider the results of Lord Browne’s review into the future of higher education funding, so that we can unlock the potential of universities …’, party leader David Cameron said this month that fees were here to stay. Of the three main parties, only the Liberal Democrats have put their collective heads above the parapet, saying: ‘We will scrap unfair university tuition fees so everyone has the chance to get a degree, regardless of their parents’ income’. They plan to phase fees out over six years.
Of the potential outcomes for the Browne review, fees rising to £5,000 or £7,000 have been discussed. The National Union of Students has proposed a graduate tax, and is campaigning to get parliamentary candidates to publicly state their position on fees. University and College Union has put forward the idea of a business education tax in place of fees, which it strongly opposes. Minds have been concentrated by a report last week from the Institute for Fiscal Studies, which calculated that for every £1 loaned in the form of the current maintenance and fee loans, the government – that means taxpayer – has to pay 23p. According to the IFS, raising the fee cap would add still further to the subsidy provided by the taxpayer through interest-free loans. Whatever the outcome of the election, a decision about the future funding of higher education will be near the top of the next government’s in-tray.
Stephen Court is senior research officer at the University and College Union
