The UK government have announced that, for the first time since 2017, university tuition fees will be rising within the next academic year.
Starting from 2025, students, full time and part time, will be paying around a 3.1% increase leading to the total of £9,535 (full-time) and £7,145 (part-time). Both new and current students will be impacted by this increase, which has people questioning whether potential students in the future will decide against studying for a degree.
James Forshaw, Money Advice Lead at John Moores University, says that in the past: “There was always a concern that it was going to put people off.” but later added: “It’s going up a few hundred pounds, it probably isn’t going to put people off in my experience.”
Mr Forshaw believes that the cost of living crisis is more of an ongoing issue for students rather that the tuition fee costs. He says: “The cost of living crisis isn’t quite over yet…so the challenge is more about living costs as we see from the students that drop in with my team. We’re constantly busy every day.”
Although the tuition fees are rising, maintenance loans are also increasing along with inflation. This could be seen as a positive to some students as they would be gaining more money at the time, but overall they will still be expected to pay the total back once they are earning the threshold figure.
Featured Image ( c ) Niamh Ludlow
