Tuition fees in the United Kingdom

Entry rate ratio for the most advantaged to most disadvantaged groups between 2006 and 2016, showing the decrease in the ratio.[18]

Participation rates in higher education in England from 2005–06 to 2015–16, showing the drop and rebound in entry rates following to the increase in tuition fees for students starting in 2011/12.[19]

In England, undergraduate tuition fees are capped at £9,250 a year for UK and Irish students. Due to Brexit, starting in autumn 2021, EU, other EEA and Swiss nationals are no longer eligible for the home fee status, meaning higher fees and no access to UK government loans unless they have been granted a settled or pre-settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme.[20][21][22] Around 76% of all institutions charged the full amount of tuition fees in 2015–16.[23] A loan of the same size is available for most universities, although students at private institutions are only eligible for £6,000 a year loans.

Since 2017–18, the fee cap is meant to be raised in line with inflation. Maintenance grants are also available to current students in England, although these are scheduled to cease with the 2016–17 academic year.[14] Maintenance loans are available for living costs, and these are means tested. These loans are scheduled to increase in size for 2016–17, when the maintenance grant system is phased out.[24] There will be a vote in the autumn to consider a further increase effective with the 2017–18 year. Several universities have already advertised fees of £9,250 for the year in anticipation of such a vote passing.[25] In October 2017, the Prime Minister Theresa May announced that tuition fees would be temporarily frozen at £9,250.[26] In 2018, this temporary freeze remains in place and it is likely to be extended as a university funding review is carried out.[27] The latter, which was launched by Theresa May, is being chaired by Philip Augar.[27]

In the 2015 spending review, the government also proposed a freeze in the repayment threshold for tuition fee loans at £21,000; a figure which was previously set to rise with average earnings. The changes, if passed, will affect all Plan 2 tuition fee loans, backdated to cover loans taken out from 2012.[28][29]

Many commentators suggested that the 2012 rise in tuition fees in England would put poorer students off applying to university.[30] However, the gap between rich and poor students has slightly narrowed (from 30.5% in 2010 to 29.8% in 2013) since the introduction of the higher fees.[31] This may be because universities have used tuition fees to invest in bursaries and outreach schemes.[32] In 2016, The Guardian noted that the number of disadvantaged students applying to university had increased by 72% from 2006 to 2015, a bigger rise than in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland.[33] It wrote that most of the gap between richer and poorer students tends to open up between Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 4 (i.e. at secondary school), rather than when applying for university, and so the money raised from tuition fees should be spent there instead.[33]

A study by Murphy, Scott-Clayton, and Wyness found that the introduction of tuition fees had "increased funding per head, rising enrolments, and a narrowing of the participation gap between advantaged and disadvantaged students".[34]

Tuition fees are currently capped at £4,030 in Northern Ireland, with loans of the same size available from Student Finance NI.[35] Loan repayments are made when income rises above £17,335 a year, with graduates paying back a percentage of their earnings above this threshold.[36]

Tuition fees are handled by the Student Awards Agency Scotland (SAAS), which does not charge fees from what it defines as "Young Students", or "Dependent Students". Young Students are defined as those under 25, without dependent children, marriage, civil partnership or cohabiting partner, who have not been outside of full-time education for more than three years.[37] Fees exist for those outside the young student definition. The tuition fees are usually £1,820 for undergraduate courses for Scottish & Irish students, and £9,250 for students from the rest of the UK. Due to Brexit, from Autumn 2021 EU students will have to pay international tuition fees in Scotland ranging from £10,000 - £26,000 per year depending on the university and degree type unless they have been granted a settled or pre-settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme. [38][39][40] At the postgraduate level, Scots and RUK usually pay the same amount, commonly between £5,000 and £15,000 per year, while tuition fees for international students can run as high as £30,000 per year.[39]

Fee discrimination against students from the rest of the UK has been challenged in the past but deemed legal.[41][42] The Scottish government confirmed in April 2019 that, with regards to tuition fees, EU students would be treated the same as Scottish students for their whole course if they begin studies up until 2020, regardless of how Brexit would be enacted.[43]

The system has been in place since 2007 when graduate endowments were abolished.[44] Labour's education spokesperson Rhona Brankin criticised the Scottish system for failing to address student poverty.[45] Scotland has fewer disadvantaged students than England, Wales or Northern Ireland and disadvantaged students receive around £560 a year less in financial support than their counterparts in England do.[32]

In Wales tuition fees are capped at £9,000 for all UK and EU students.[46] This is lower than in Scotland (for UK students from outside Scotland) and England. Welsh students may apply for a non-means tested tuition fee loan to cover 100 percent of tuition fee costs wherever they choose to study in the UK.[47]

Welsh students used to be able to apply for fee grants of up to £5,190, in addition to a £3,810 loan to cover tuition fee costs.[24] However, the Welsh Government changed this system after the Diamond Review was published. Today students may only access a tuition fee loan rather than a grant. The changes became effective for students starting University in September 2018. The Welsh Government argued this would allow for higher maintenance loans and grants and these costs are the biggest barrier for poorer students to attend University.[48]

Tuition is paid for by general taxation in Germany, although only around 30% of young people gain higher education qualification there, whereas in the UK the comparable figure is 48%.[56][57] Fully or partly funding universities from general taxation has been criticised by the Liberal Democrats as a 'tax cut for the rich and a tax rise for the poor' because people would be taxed to pay for something that many would not derive a benefit from, while graduates generally earn more due to their qualifications and only have to pay them back.[58]

Jeremy Corbyn, former Labour leader, stated that he would have removed tuition fees and would have instead funded higher education by increasing National Insurance and Corporation Tax.[59] In the long term this plan would have been expected to cost the government about £8 billion a year.[60]

In July 2017 Lord Adonis, former Number 10 Policy Unit staffer and education minister largely responsible for introducing tuition fees, said that the system had become a "Frankenstein's monster" putting many students over £50,000 in debt. He argued the system should either be scrapped or fees reverted to between £1,000 and £3,000 per the initial scheme.[61][62]

During the 2015 Labour leadership election, Andy Burnham said that he would introduce a graduate tax to replace fees. He was ultimately unsuccessful in his bid for leadership. A graduate tax has been criticised because there would be no way to recover the money from students who move to a different country, or foreign students who return home.[63]