SUCCESSIVE governments have wrestled with the question of what tuition fees university students should pay.
But what are the big parties saying about the issues in this election campaign? Here’s what you need to know.
Before she left office, a review of higher education moved Theresa May to recommend that maximum tuition fees be lowered from the current £9,250 to £7,500.
The Conservatives are now set to abandon the idea, the i reported.
Sources also said the party is keen to keep fees, a potential attack line for the Labour Party, “off the agenda” in this campaign.
The party faced opposition from students after hiking the fee cap from £3,000 to £9,000 in the 2012-13 academic year, though later introduced loans for postgraduate courses, previously not available.
The Labour Party has pledged to scrap tuition fees.
They have also said they would set up a £3bn-a-year “cradle to grave” National Education Service.
The party says it would guarantee six years’ free education and enshrine a right to take paid time off to develop skills.
At a speech in Blackpool this week, leader Jeremy Corbyn said: “I see education as an escalator running alongside you throughout life that you can get on and off whenever you want.”
The party has said the scheme would cost £2.6bn in education entitlement and a £573m in maintenance grants in 2023/24.
The issue of tuition fees has plagued the Liberal Democrats since fees were raised under the Coalition government.
The party had previously won support from students after making a pledge not to raise fees one of its flagship policies.
The party hasn’t yet made an official pledge on tuition fees, but asked this week by the Daily Telegraph whether it would now match Labour’s pledge to scrap fees, business spokesman Sam Gyimah said: “The idea that we can have zero tuition fees is a fantasy.
“In every system in which university fees are free it means places are rationed.
“When they are rationed, it is the disadvantaged that suffer the most.”
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