Rise in tuition fees impacts number of university applicants in UK

The increase in the undergraduate tuition fees is a major factor to the decrease in the number of students, the Independent Commission on fees has warned.

A new report into the effects of raising tuition fees has recently said that the collapse in part-time and mature students studying at universities in England is worrying and threatens social mobility as well as economic performance. The commission said they believe the “new fee regime is a major contributory factor” that suggests urgent care is needed to backtrack the rising issue. 

The chair of the commission and principle of Hertford College, Oxford, Will Hutton has expressed concern on the sharp fall in part-time students as a greater proportion of disadvantaged students were finding difficult in going to universities under the new funding regime.

Hutton said, “Since many of this group come from less advantaged backgrounds, the fees hike is potentially having a serious and detrimental impact on their social mobility”.

Although many researches in the past have linked the rapid decrease in students with the raising tuition fees, the commission’s report has solidified the concerns. Some analysts believe that poor students could accumulate huge debt once the new maintenance loans are included.

"It’s a big worry in the family where children incur huge debt because of the university. There is some relief available to universities for students from poor backgrounds and there’s also a level of income they have to earn before they will start to repay their loans. So, if they are unemployed when they graduate or they don’t earn the sufficient level of income, they won't be able to pay their loans and a proportion of students never pay back because they never enter into employment", Stephen Sizer, Pastor in Christ Church in London told Press TV.

Sizer also disapproved higher fees in universities saying "the higher cost gives lesser incentive to students many of whom never pay their loans". 

"They're more likely to continue the course because if they don’t, they lose the money they have invested in fees. So, I don’t approve of higher fees in universities as students will end up in debt. But I don’t think students are more likely to leave early because it’s the fees that ironically help them persevere because they don’t want to lose what they have invested", he said.

Individuals such as the Vice Chancellor of the Open University, Peter Horrocks argue that graduates should be allowed to take out student loans so that they are able to study for a second undergraduate degree, which would help to address the decline that has hit the Open University particularly hard.

The commission has recommended that the government "should be extremely wary of the substantive increase in fees" due to the amount of strain it would place on the loan system.

Established in 2011, the independent commission on fees was established with backing from the Sutton Trust so that it can monitor the impacts of raising the tuition fees further.

Undergraduates in the UK now pay £9,000 a year to study at universities. 

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