Browne Review on student finance
The Browne Review on student tuition fees has now been published, and this re-writes the book on student funding for the future. Or not.
Students looking to go to university before 2012 won’t have to bother about it too much, but as it’s such a big change to student finance, anyone with an interest in higher education will want to know what’s going on.
So, what does it say?
The Browne Review says a lot of things (many of which are not worth getting into), but the most important is that universities in England should be free to set their own tuition fees.
In other words, they should be free to decide how much they want students to pay.
This would allow the likes of Oxford and Cambridge to charge whatever they like, giving them more freedom to invest.
The report also said, however, that most unis will probably decide on their own not to charge more than £6,000 a year, because a big slice of any fees above that would be given to the Government to help cover the costs of student loans.
Browne’s other ideas:
• An annual loan of £3,750 for living costs
• No upfront costs to pay for tuition fees
• Grants of up to £3,250 for families with an income lower than £60,000
• Graduates will only start repaying their loans when they reach a salary of £21,000 per year and if their earnings drop, then so do their payments.
• Any balance left over after 30 years will be written off and forever forgotten.
Pros and cons
The cons
The Browne Review is that it is all about students once again being the go-to guys to solve the universities’ money worries.
It also does nothing to make student finance any easier to understand.
Let’s face it: students don't need to live in Buckingham Palace for three years, but a loan of £3,750 a year will probably not get them into a decent place either. Students will probably have to borrow money from other sources as well to make ends meet.
And let's not forget that a loan is always a loan, and although some students may never pay the Government back the entire amount, the debt will follow them for 30 (very long) years.
If universities can charge different amounts, some are likely to be places only the richest can afford. They’ll get wealthier as everyone else gets poorer but their social mix will be anything but rich.
The Pros
It’s not all grey and dreary, however. The good thing (yes that’s right, there are a few) is that students won't pay any tuition fees upfront when they come to uni, which means they can settle into their new life without worrying about having to dish out a large amount of money.
Secondly, they won't need to give any money back to the government until they start earning £21,000 a year, and even then, they’ll only be repaying 9% of their earnings.
In a nutshell, this review was put together to raise more money for universities and to give more students the opportunity to go to uni without putting anyone off the idea of becoming a student because they can’t afford it. If you think it’s going to do that, it’s gotta be good.
Will any of this actually happen?
Before you decide in which side of the fence you want to be on, relax: the Browne Review has yet to get through Parliament before it becomes law.
MPs are set to give the proposals an almighty mauling before they agree on anything. It could still go through a lot of changes and may even be scrapped altogether.
Apart from anything else, before the elections every Lib Dem MP – Nick Clegg and Vince Cable included – signed a pledge saying they wouldn’t raise fees like this. Cable has already said he is willing to make a U-turn but many of his colleagues don’t want to look like such hypocrites. There’s going to have to be a lot of horse trading and compromises for this to get a majority vote.
It is worth, however, starting to plan your student budget ahead of time, reading as much as possible on student finance and not panicking for all the wrong reasons.
Last updated on: 09 December 2010