New University Fee Structure English Style. (March 21, 2005)

    The cost to students of an English university education is to rise sharply next year. A report last week by the BBC notes "Nine out of 10 universities in England are to charge the maximum tuition fee of £3,000 when they are allowed to raise their fees next year". Currently the fees are £1,050 per annum.  Collectively, however, to partiality compensate the increase England's universities have collectively pledged £300m on bursaries for students from low-income families.

Britain's Office for Fair Access (Offa) estimates "from 2006, a student from a low-income family could expect to receive around £11,000 over three years in what it calls 'non-repayable cash' - in the form of a university bursary and a government maintenance grant of £2,700 a year" while a typical bursary will be about £1,000 per annum.

Oxford and Cambridge are offering bursaries which range above the average. In the case of Oxford University it has announced that it "is putting 30% of its additional fee income towards bursaries and will offer students from the poorest families (incomes below £16,000 a year) an annual bursary of £3,000, with an extra £1,000 in their first year to cover initial costs. It then has a sliding scale of bursaries for students from families with incomes of up to £33,499 a year."

In addition the BBC reports that around 35% of the universities plan scholarships schemes based on academic merit, ranging from £500 to £5,000. Nevertheless, Hannah Essex from the British National Union of Students pointed out, "The money has not appeared out of thin air nor grown on trees - it will be coming directly from the pockets of students, from the extra income that top-up fees will generate."

Oxford University's Vice Chancellor, John Hood has stated previously that his university faces a £6,000 annual shortfall for every undergraduate it teaches and the £12 million additional revenue it expects as a result of top-up fees will go only a small way to overcoming the deficit.

Previously, on February 23^rd, The Guardian Unlimited, reported that Professor Hood had told the House of Commons Education Committee, "My guess is that there may well be a need ultimately to address the fees issue again and I think that that is how the legislation is framed. The country has to make a decision as to whether it wants to have some universities standing shoulder to shoulder with the best in the world or not. If the answer to that question is yes, I would suggest supporting those universities is the logical outcome."