Concern at possible rise in fees

From 2006 universities were allowed to charge fees of up to £3,000 a year

The poorest teenagers could be put off going to university if an upcoming government review agrees a hike in tuition fees, a report suggests.

Some universities want the £3,000 fees limit to rise to up to £8,000, but it is feared the current subsidy for poorer students would not continue.

The Higher Education Policy Institute report says increasing fees by up to £4,000 would hit the poorest hardest.

Universities themselves may have to waive poorer students' fees, it adds.

The Hepi report comes ahead of the planned review of the system of university funding and student support in 2009.

NUS wants to see a more open review that goes beyond the simple question of what level the fee cap should be set at Wes Streeting NUS vice-president

It says it is possible, but not certain, that the maximum fee universities could charge would rise following the review.

England's present system of higher education funding is progressive, it argues, because it requires no upfront payment and recognises that only those who have benefited from a university education should pay.

But it points out that the system is expensive.

Some 33 pence in every pound of tuition fee loan and 21 pence in every pound of maintenance grant comes from tax payers' money. This currently amounts to £2.5bn a year.

So the report looks at how the fee cap could be raised without any increase in public expenditure.

It is "too early" to be sure whether the variable tuition fees introduced in 2006 had deterred students from poorer backgrounds, it says.

'Fee waivers'

But there was no "noticeable" impact on disadvantaged students from the introduction of tuition fees overall in 1998.

"Nevertheless, that does not mean that fees, whatever their level, would have no such impact in future," the report adds.

Hepi director Bahram Bekhradnia said: "Any rise in the fee cap will require some level of tuition fee waiver to ensure that those taking the greatest risk when they take on the commitments now required to enter higher education are not deterred from doing so.

"If such fee waivers were required, that could seriously erode the benefit that universities would gain from higher fees."

The institute also suggests a number of options which would mean students paying part of the higher fees upfront.

"This would represent a major break with the principles of the 2006 reforms, which established that no student would have to rely on their family for any cost of tuition," it adds.

'Fairness'

Another option could see students charged a real rate of interest on the government loans they take out to pay for their fees.

Currently the loans - which mean students pay nothing towards their fees until after graduation - are charged at a zero real rate of interest.

Higher education minister Bill Rammell said it was too early to discuss future tuition fees.

"The government has always been clear that there will be no change to the current fee arrangements until after a thorough independent review of the first three years of the variable fees regime.

"We are barely more than halfway through this period."

National Union of Students vice president Wes Streeting said it was encouraging that the report cast doubt on the "viability and fairness of big fee increases".

He added: "NUS wants to see a more open review that goes beyond the simple question of what level the fee cap should be set at.

"This must allow for changes to the whole funding system, whilst also tackling variability in fees and the emerging market in bursaries, both of which are damaging to students and to higher education itself."