UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is set to raise university tuition fees for the first time in eight years.
The increase follows growing concerns that many institutions are now facing a financial crisis, with 40 per cent of English universities expecting to slump into a deficit this year.
Education Secretary, Bridget Phillipsonhe, will announce the increase which will see tuition fees rise in line with the Retail Price Index inflation, reports The Telegraph on Monday.
The fee rise is expected to come into force from September 2025, meaning that it will affect A-level students who are currently applying to universities.
Tuition fees have remained frozen at £9,250 since 2017. It is unclear which month’s inflation figures Labour will choose to link fees to, but matching them to the current rate of 2.7 per cent would see fees rise to about £9,500 from next year.
Previous reports suggested that the Government would raise tuition fees to £10,500 over the next five years. The Telegraph understands that ministers do not want to commit to any uplift beyond the next academic year as they consider complete reform of the current system.
University finances fuelled mainly by international students dropped dramatically following a Tory crackdown on dependent visas.
Home Office figures showed 16 per cent fewer visa applications were made between July and September than in the same period in 2023.
Foreign students, who typically pay triple or even quadruple domestic students, had been largely propping up the sector. A sudden fall in numbers has removed a crucial lifeline for universities and amplified calls for immediate action from the new government.
Announcing a tuition fee rise outside of a fiscal event is expected to buy the government time to finalise its shake-up of the university funding model.
The newspaper said it learnt the government is also considering reforming the tuition fee repayment model, over concerns that swelling student debt disproportionately impacts less-advantaged graduates.
