Rise in tuition fees will ‘cripple’ students – union president

THE president of the University of Hertfordshire Students’ Union has responded with outrage to plans to abolish the cap on tuition fees.

Following the publication of Lord Browne’s review of higher education funding and student finance this week, the president of the University of Hertfordshire’s students’ union, Nica de Koenigswarter, has slammed the recommendation to allow institutions to charge what they like.

With the Government’s imminent spending review expected to hit higher education institutions hard, the Browne review recommends that the current cap of �3,290 a year be scrapped, with universities being allowed to charge as much as �12,000 a year for a degree-level education.

In return, students would only start paying back their debt once they started earning more than �21,000 a year, as opposed to the current threshold of �15,000.

But Ms de Koenigswarter said the measures would “cripple” would-be students.

“Anyone who thinks that the Browne Review is in the best interests of students is delusional,” she said.

“It will cripple the number of students applying to university and encourage students to choose which university they attend, based on how much debt they will get into rather than applying to the institution or course that is best for them.

“Poorer students will be put off from going to University. You can say goodbye to widening participation.”

For more on this story, see next week’s Welwyn Hatfield Times, out Wednesday.