28th November 2018 9:00
By Blue Tutors
Universities have warned that a reduction of the tuition fees they are allowed to charge for an undergraduate degree would leave them financially vulnerable. Reported on the BBC, the government have suggested that tuition fees should be reduced from £9,250 to £6,500 a year. Some universities offer taught postgraduate courses for £5,100 a year and the question is how university can afford to do this but still charge the maximum for all undergraduate courses.
Virtually every undergraduate degree course in England charges the maximum tuition fees per year, £9,250. However, there is much more variation in the amount charged for postgraduate courses. An MA at UCL is £10,440, while at Liverpool John Moores that figure is £5,100.
A 2014 study found that postgraduate courses were, on average, 47% more expensive than undergraduate courses based on smaller classes and higher teaching/tutoring costs. On average, undergraduate students cost a university £7,694. This is misleading, though, because some subjects such as science and medicine require more equipment and longer teaching hours. Under the old system, where students had subsidised tuition fees, universities received extra funding for certain courses.
The Million Plus Group of new universities claims that “tuition fees” is a misnomer, and would be better described as a “university fee”. The idea is that the funding received covers outreach work for disadvantaged students, along with all the central services universities provide separate from teaching.
Nick Hillman, director of the Higher Education Policy Institute, said that students want more transparency about the fees they are paying. He says that students are sceptical about spending on things like marketing, but they are happy with spending in other areas like support for mental health. If universities could justify the tuition fees charged, then students are more likely to be happy paying those fees.