Should we abolish tuition fees?

At the last election Labour vowed to abolish tuition fees. The party says this would cost £9.5billion a year, though this would fall to £5billion a year over time.

Labour would also bring back maintenance grants at a cost of £1.7billion and has floated the idea of scrapping outstanding student debts, though it has not said how it would meet the £100billion cost.

One justification for student loans is graduates earn more over their lifetime than non-graduates.

Ministers argue the rise in tuition fees did not deter students from poorer backgrounds.

But Chris Belfield of the Institute for Fiscal Studies says while more people from poorer backgrounds are applying for full-time degrees there has been a “dramatic” and “sudden” fall in the part-time student numbers.

“When you take full-time and part-time together the picture is much less clear about what has been going on with access,” he says.