Report examines case for charging poorer students lower fees for university

THE UK should consider introducing means-tested tuition fees for university education, a report has suggested.

Published by the UK’s Higher Education Policy Institute (Hepi) and Canada’s Higher Education Strategy Associates, the research looks at charging people from

poorer backgrounds less for their higher education. Targeted Tuition Fees: Is meanstesting the answer? considers the spread of means-tested tuition fees across five continents, comparing the different targeted free tuition programmes that exist.

The case studies include Canada, Chile, Italy, Japan, South Africa and the United States, as well as the original UK scheme in place from 1998/99 to 2005/06.

Report co-author Alex Usher said: “This is arguably the most important new idea in international higher education finance and it is spreading across the globe. Free or lower-cost education for those from poorer backgrounds balances the need for well-funded universities against the fact that some people are more debt-averse.

“That is why so many different jurisdictions are independently converging upon it. It is time for a more systematic look at the concept.”

Director of the think tank Hepi, Nick Hillman, said the idea was very timely in the UK, and particularly in England. He said: “First, the Government is reviewing the funding of all post-18 education while the Opposition wants to row back on the spread of tuition fees. Secondly, everyone wants to see more students from poorer backgrounds. Thirdly, the Office for National Statistics may start counting the part of student loans that are never repaid as current public spending – if that happens, we may as well reduce the headline fee for some students and pay cash direct to universities without pretending it is a loan.”

However, he said the concept needed to be assessed as a whole because means-tested tuition fees satisfy some objectives better than others.