Latest news : Fees deter students

The NUS has warned that 8 out of 10 students would be deterred from university by fees of £10,000.

The ground-breaking NUS/HSBC Student Experience 2010 report on finance and funding shows that 79% of students would be deterred by fees of £10,000, whilst 70% say they would be deterred by fees at £7,000.

The results come amidst reports that the Government will this week propose an upper limit on tuition fees of at least £9,500 in its response to Lord Browne's review of higher education and student finance.

NUS and UCU are organising a mass demonstration in London on Wednesday 10 November 2010. At least 10,000 students and lecturers will be protesting against huge cuts to further and higher education which threatens the future of colleges and universities and would see the costs passed on to students through a trebling of the cap on tuition fees.

Commenting on the report Aaron Porter, NUS President, said:

‘Tripling tuition fees would mean thousands of students being put off going to university with students who do go forced to take the bullet for university heads more concerned with lining their pockets than improving education.

‘Next week thousands of students from around the UK will descend on London demanding that future generations are not denied opportunities by short-sighted and wrong-headed decision making in Westminster.

‘Just four years ago, fees trebled and in that time there has been no improvement in student satisfaction, no improvement in quality, no improvement in staff-student ratios and no improvement in contact time. Universities haven't been value for money for fees of £3,000 a year, and they certainly haven't justified an increase.

‘Students should not be forced to pay for the excessive, ideological Government cuts to education, and if the Liberal Democrats who promised to abolish fees at the general election back a rise in fees they will face an unprecedented backlash.’