Tuition fees increase
Students in Northern Ireland could be forced to pay nearly twice as much for tuition fees under the Stuart Report’s recommendations. Emma Blee writes.
Universities in Northern Ireland should be allowed to charge tuition fees of up to £5,750, according to a government advisor.
A consultation on the plans is due to start this month.
In March 2010 the Institute of Directors’ Joanne Stuart, appointed by the Department of Employment and Learning, completed a review into student fees and finance and stated that tuition fees in Northern Ireland should be frozen at around £3,200 per year.
At that time, she claimed there was “limited evidence to fundamentally change the system.” However, in the wake of Lord Browne’s review of tuition fees in England — which suggested increasing fees to between £6,000 and £9,000 — Stuart was asked to update the report.
In a u-turn, Stuart now proposes to raise the current tuition fee cap from £3,290 to a figure between £5,000 and £5,750. She rejects the idea of “maintaining the status quo” as this would not tackle the deficit in higher education funding. The report calculated that if fees remained at the current rate there would be a shortfall of £40 million to £60 million a year.
Under the plans, students would not need to pay fees upfront. They would have an option to defer the payment through a loan, which would only be repayable after they leave university and are earning above £21,000.
Variability
Stuart suggests that the qualifying household income threshold for students entitled for a maximum maintenance grant should increase from £19,000 to £25,000.
The report argues that non-Northern Ireland domiciled students who study here should be charged according to the UK Government’s fee structure. However, in Scotland, there is no fee for tuition and in Wales the basic fee level is set to rise to £4,000 with an upper tier of £9,000.
Danny Kennedy says he is “still considering” the proposals but points out that students from here going to study in other parts of the UK are likely to face the charges. “It’s not payback but it’s like for like,” he comments.
There would be some “variability” though, and Stuart states that universities should be allowed to choose how much they charge students. This could be anything between the minimum basic fee of £1,310 and the maximum of £5,750.
In light of this, Michelle Gildernew has announced that she will not increase fees for students at the College of Agriculture, Food and Rural Enterprise; these will remain at £1,310 a year. “I can re-assure agri-food students that I have no intention to increase fees and this is a policy that I intend to stand by. Any rise could act as a deterrent for people from low income backgrounds entering higher education,” she commented.
However, Stuart argues that around £65 million needs to be saved within higher education in the province: “I believe I have put forward a fair and sustainable model. This has been considered and defined, a lot of work put in to understand the specifics in Northern Ireland,” she added.
During a debate on the topic, Danny Kennedy told Assembly members it is important that access to higher education should be based on the “ability to learn”, not the ability to pay.
“Higher education confers benefits and it is right that the beneficiaries should contribute towards the cost. However, we also need to find the balance between the level of tuition fees and how much public finance should be given to the universities,” he commented.
In an ‘options paper’ circulated to the Executive, it is understood that Kennedy stated he would prefer to freeze fees at £3,000 but that this could leave a £40 million a year hole in his budget. In his paper, though, the Minister is said to have listed his second preferred option as a ‘moderate’ increase of around £1,500, leaving students with a bill of £4,500 and a smaller funding gap.
All sitting Northern Ireland MPs voted against the proposals to raise fees in England.
Speaking at Stormont, DUP MLA Jonathan Bell questioned how the Minister would ensure that “young working-class people can still access university on ability to learn” as well as ensuring that universities “remain leading world-class British colleges of excellence.”
Sinn Féin’s Sue Ramsey was worried about the ability to learn and not the ability to pay. “Devolution is about us making decisions for our people, including our students,” she stated.
‘Disaster’
The SDLP’s Pat Ramsey remarked that the subject of student fees is “very difficult”. However, he commented that “devolution has put the economy at the heart of building Northern Ireland” and a highly educated workforce “is key”. He said his party will not support the fees increase.
Alliance’s Chris Lyttle argued that there needs to be a “clear message that no-one should be deterred from higher education by cost”. His party argues that a “more sustainable model is needed”.
NUS-USI President Ciarnan Helferty believes an increase in tuition fees “would be a disaster for students and families”.
Helferty has spoken to potential students who “would have second thoughts about going to university because it’s too much debt to take on too early in their lives and that’s understandable”.
“The fact is that higher fees discourage students from going to university,” adds Helferty. He suggests that efficiencies could be made elsewhere in the higher education sector. One example would be accelerated study, where students could study throughout the summer meaning their time at university would be shorter. This would benefit students, he says, as well as saving money for the universities as academic staff, who are paid throughout the summer months, would be continually teaching.
There is a divide in the student body, though, as local student group ‘Fee’ is calling for all tuition fees to be abolished and a “free education for everyone”.
Queen’s University says that, given the cuts, there are only two ways to keep higher education free at the point of entry: increase fees or fill the £40 million funding gap from other funds. Vice-Chancellor Peter Gregson backs the Stuart report and warns that the alternatives mean reducing student numbers or reducing student support e.g. maintenance grants.
“This cut is equivalent to 1,300 jobs and would inevitably lead to a substantial reduction in capacity and quality of higher education in Northern Ireland,” he has stated.
However, University of Ulster Vice- Chancellor Richard Barnett rejects the Stuart recommendations as they could put higher education “beyond the reach of a new generation of students and leave those who go to university saddled with long-term debt.”
Barnett argues that any fees increase would simply plug the hole in DEL’s budget, with no additional cash for universities. Quoting Barack Obama’s latest State of the Union address, he concluded: “Cutting the deficit by gutting our investments in innovation and education is like lightening an overloaded airplane by removing its engine.”
Stuart recommendations
• Increasing the fee cap to between £5,000 and £5,750 from the present cap of £3,290
• Increasing the repayment threshold from £15,000 to £21,000
• More students to benefit from a maximum grant of £3,475
• Charging the UK Government’s fee structure (£6,000 to £9,000) for students from outside Northern Ireland who want to study here.
