Domestic students have been paying less in real terms every year

Sep 18th 2024

In 2012 politicians in Britain burned lots of political capital by raising the cap on how much English universities can charge domestic undergraduates in tuition fees. Sir Nick Clegg, the deputy prime minister at the time, had previously pledged not to raise fees and never lived down the U-turn. This political folk memory helps explain why the Labour Party, which took power in July and has campaigned in the past to abolish tuition fees, will find it difficult to raise the cap again. That is nonetheless what it should do.

The financial strains on British universities are becoming hard to ignore. In the academic year just gone 40% of British universities ran deficits. The number is probably higher now. How to handle a failing university is no longer an academic question. The effect of tighter immigration rules on numbers of foreign students, who pay higher fees than native ones, is one reason why the universities are under pressure. But the sinking value of tuition fees is another. The cap of £9,000 ($11,880) that was put in place 12 years ago has been raised only once since then, and by a tiny amount, to £9,250. Inflation has eaten away at its value: it is now worth less than £6,500 in 2012 money.