Government survey claims students would pay higher fees

University students are willing to pay higher tuition fees for degree courses that lead to the highest-paying careers, says a new government-commissioned survey.

Lord Browne of Madingley, former head of BP, is leading an independent review of tuition fees by the Institute for Employment Studies (IES). The research shows that the majority of the 81 university applicants surveyed said, they could be “sold on the idea.”

Australia already bases its tuition fees system on this idea with students paying twice as much to study law, accountancy and economics than education, nursing or statistics courses.

However, the research also revealed that students from east London, Nottinghamshire, and south Yorkshire, were far less in favour of the idea that the most prestigious universities, including Oxford and Cambridge, introduce higher fees than other universities. Thomas Usher, a research fellow at IES has said, “Across the board, but particularly among students from non-traditional backgrounds, there was a willingness to pay differential fees for different subjects. But when asked whether they would be prepared to pay higher fees for a particular kind of university, the majority were reflectively against this.”

Student leaders have labeled this idea as “elitist”, with the National Union of Students (NUS) pointing out that this would mean that the poorest students would be confined to “bargain basement” degrees regardless of their academic abilities. NUS president Wes Streeting said, “We believe allowing different institutions to charge different fees risks providing an elite system for the few that can afford it and a second-class experience for the many who cannot.

“This government report confirms that a hike in fees and a real market in price between universities risks further limiting the choice horizon of non-traditional students when they consider where to apply. Such fee differentials could see poorer students priced out of more prestigious universities and therefore consigned to the bargain basement. It is clear that earnings profiles for different subjects vary significantly, but it is also clear that earnings profiles vary significantly within certain subject areas.

“Any individual financial contribution should be based on genuine earnings after graduation and not hypothetical course prices based on unreliable and misleading estimates of earning power which amount to guesswork.”

A maths and philosophy student at Warwick commented, “This is the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard. If you are rich there is more choice. It effectively says that you cannot be poorer and clever.” A second year MORSE student said, “It makes sense efficiently, but it’s not morally right.”

Universities UK, the umbrella group for vice-chancellors, took a poll of 58 university leaders, which revealed that a quarter of the income received from top-up fees had been spent on bursaries for the poorest students. It had also helped improve the student-staff ratio. With the number of students attending university rising from 1.86m to 1.92m between 2005 and 2008, universities have said that these extra funds were greatly needed. Universities UK said, “A common message is that the additional investment from fees has made a real difference to the financial sustainability of universities, allowing them to invest for the long term, reverse backlogs in maintenance, improve environmental performance, and go some way towards meeting rising student expectations.”

Peter Dunn, Warwick University Press Officer, said, “With the recently announced Government funding cuts for Universities it is no surprise that students and universities alike are now giving much more consideration to other Higher Education funding models, which includes higher tuition fees”. Universities face £315m of cuts in 2010 and a further £600m by 2013. Teaching grants are also likely to be cut, which make up almost 70% of many universities’ funding. As a result, universities have used the results of this survey as an opportunity to argue for higher tuition fees.

At Warwick Students’ Union’s recent Annual General Meeting, a policy was passed stating the union’s belief that “education should be free at the point of use” and that “education should be publicly funded”. This decision was passed at the union’s second highest decision-making body, with more than 100 students in attendance. Sami Wannell, Union Welfare Officer, said, “As this meeting was open for all students to attend, we can only assume that this is the ‘representative’ view of Warwick students” and expressed his view that Warwick students do not agree with paying higher fees for certain degrees.

He said that not all students that do degree courses that may lead to higher paying careers necessarily want to go into those careers: “I’m a mathematician, but I wouldn’t be seen dead working for Deloitte and so higher fees would have been a pretty big disincentive for me to study maths here at Warwick. Not to mention the problems that come with framing education purely in terms of the material benefits you can get, as opposed to its inherent worth.”