Scotland Following the passing of the
Scotland Act 1998, devolved government was established in Scotland with the first meeting of the new
Scottish Parliament taking place on 12 May 1999. The parliament had been given primary legislative powers meaning that over many areas elected representatives were able to pass their own laws. In particular its responsibilities included student fees, school standards and the training and supply of teachers. The Cubie committee led by the lawyer Andrew Cubie was formed in July 1999 to look into the funding of higher education in Scotland to try to find a solution to the issue of student financing which threatened to destabilise the coalition. The findings of the report were considered by a joint ministerial working group established by Scottish First Minister
Donald Dewar. In order to qualify as a Scottish student and be exempted from paying tuition fees, the student must have lived in Scotland for at least three years prior to the first day of the first academic year of the course. Students would also be exempt if they were classed as "ordinarily resident" in the country on the first day of their course. This meant that those students who had moved to Scotland for a reason other than study would be also be exempt. Scottish domiciled or European Union students from outside the United Kingdom who had undertaken a first full-time degree course on or after 1 August 2001 were eligible to pay the endowment. On completion of their degree, students would pay a fixed amount initially set by the Scottish government at £2000 and later rising to £2289 for students commencing their studies during the academic year of 2006–07. The first students began paying back the endowment on 1 April 2005. On 28 February 2008 the bill was approved in a move which restored free higher education in Scotland. The Scottish education secretary
Fiona Hyslop speaking at the time said "We believe access to education should be based on ability to learn, not ability to pay. Today's removal of the graduate endowment fee is great news for current and future students and last year's graduates, helping to significantly reduce their debt burden." Labour's education spokesperson
Rhona Brankin however said that its abolition would not tackle student poverty. Voting against the measure she said that ministers had "failed miserably" to produce evidence that scrapping the endowment would increase the numbers of people going to university.
Wales Following devolution, the
Welsh Assembly was given what were known as "secondary legislative powers" which meant that unlike their Scottish counterparts, they were only able to vary some laws set by
Parliament in London. The assembly could vary specified devolved issues including setting and monitoring school standards, the content of the national curriculum and the training and supply of teachers. At the time the
National Union of Students president Owain James welcomed the move saying "this is a great victory for Welsh students.... Maintenance grants are crucial to keep students in education."
England Introduction of variable tuition fees , former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. Blair won a key vote on the introduction of variable tuition fees in 2003 with the votes of Scottish MPs making the difference The likelihood of a backbench rebellion from Labour MPs forced Clarke to introduce a number of concessions to the rebels in order to avoid a Commons defeat in a vote held on 27 January 2004. Amendments to the bill included an increase in the amount poorer students could claim in a maintenance grant, a promise to review the £3,000 cap after three years and the promise to write off all student debt after 25 years. Eventually the vote was passed with Labour winning by 316 votes to 311 with 71 Labour MPs voting against and 19 Labour MPs abstaining. The result provided relief for
Tony Blair in what had been seen as his biggest test yet as Prime Minister. Education Secretary Clarke said "had we lost it, it would have been a blow to our authority but as it is we have the ability to take the legislation forward." The Conservatives shadow education and health secretary
Tim Yeo said the result was an "utter humiliation" for ministers and said that the vote had only been won because of the votes of Scottish MPs who had voted to impose fees on English students which would not apply north of the border. a figure it was feared would grow should legislation to increase tuition fees fail. Such was the level of underfunding, vice chancellors argued, and assuming that all universities would charge the full £3,000 a year, the measures would only "ameliorate, not solve, the funding crisis" recouping only £1.4 billion extra revenue a year. Shadow Education Secretary
Tim Yeo said in a point of order "It is completely wrong that a bill which imposes higher charges on students attending the English universities should only be carried by this house using the votes of Scottish MPs when the students attending universities in the constituencies of those Scottish MPs do not have to pay those higher charges." To cover the cost of the fees UK and EU students could take out a
tuition fee loan meaning that there would be no requirement to pay fees upfront. The loan, which would not depend on household income, would be paid directly to the university or college from the student loans company. The act also established the
Office for Fair Access (OFFA) in an effort to ensure that the "introduction of higher tuition fees in 2007-08 did not deter people from entering higher education for financial reasons". It also would ensure that "universities and colleges were explicitly committed to increasing participation in higher education among under-represented groups". The fees also became known as
top up fees as prior to September 2006 the amount paid for tuition would be a flat rate whereas from September 2006 the fees became variable and would help universities to "top up" the shortfall in funding to cover the cost of certain degrees. Speaking about the introduction of variable tuition fees in 2005, Higher Education Minister
Bill Rammell, claimed that the changes were necessary saying "I think we have to get real. In an ideal world you wouldn't bring in these changes, but we don't live in an ideal world. To maintain and develop a world class system of higher education would cost the equivalent of 3p or 4p on the standard rate of tax". He elsewhere provided a different estimate stating that to replace the income from top-up fees, estimated by the government to be £1.4 billion., would necessitate a requirement "to put up income tax by 3%"
Calls for review in university funding In their
Changing Landscapes report published in 2009, Universities UK said that "in practice, although institutions theoretically had the choice whether to charge the full tuition fee, almost all chose to set the fee at the £3,000 cap". It also said that the "current fee arrangements" had not "created an economic market in which the price of an institution is a significant factor in how potential students choose the institution they want to go to and in which institutions compete on price to attract students." In their
Conclusions on the Changing Market they said that raising tuition fees to £5,000 a year would be just the "maintenance of the status quo" and claimed that "students are insensitive to tuition fees below this level." The report suggested that "increasing fees above £5,000 would lead more and more institutions to review their practice of setting fees below the cap". Responding to the report
Wendy Piatt, Director General of the
Russell Group who represent 20 British universities, said "There is a growing consensus that without increased investment, there is a real danger that the success of our world-leading universities will not be sustained. In a difficult economic climate there is even greater urgency to find additional funding". She quoted research from the
Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) which said that universities needed an additional 15-20 per cent worth of funding for current teaching levels to be sustained and suggested that an increase in tuition fees should be something that should be an option as the increase in 2006 had no adverse impact on recruitment. Speaking at the launch, Mandelson said that the review would take into account the goal of widening participation in higher education, the need for affordability and the desire to simplify the student-support system. However, the Russell Group's
Wendy Piatt argued that the current level of funding was inadequate, saying "as universities are facing severe economic conditions and ferocious global competition it is clear that the status quo is not viable". With
David Cameron installed as Prime Minister and
Nick Clegg as Deputy Prime Minister the two men produced a coalition agreement setting out how the two parties would work together. In response to the issue of university funding and higher education, the agreement said that higher education policy would have to await the outcome of the Browne report which had not yet been published. The agreement also made mention of the desire to increase the number of university places available. For the Liberal Democrats the findings of the review were a big unknown and potentially problematic for the party as they had made the abolition of student tuition fees within a period of six years one of their manifesto commitments and many of the party's MPs had signed a
National Union of Students pledge stating that they would not vote for any increase in tuition fees. As a result of this potential conflict, the agreement stipulated that the Liberal Democrats could abstain on any vote which may require fees to be increased. For the Liberal Democrats in particular it was predicted that the review would cause deep political divisions both within their own party and within the coalition government as many had signed a pledge promising not to vote for any increase in tuition fees prior to the election. David Blackburn of the
Spectator called the proposals a "sustainable and permanent solution" and described the plan as "progressive". United Kingdom Business Secretary (2010–2015) in charge of implementing the changes resulting from the Browne review
Government response On 3 November 2010 the government responded to the review by making a number of adjustments to the recommendations, the main one being the rejection of Browne's recommendation that the cap to Universities be completely lifted, instead agreeing a £9,000 per year cap. In terms of paying back the loan, Browne had suggested a flat rate of interest should be charged at 2.2% plus inflation. On this the government opted for a tapered rate which would rise to 3% depending on earnings in an effort to make the system more progressive. Business Secretary
Vince Cable said that access to higher education would be on the basis of ability and not the ability to pay. He said "no-one will have to pay up-front tuition fees. We are extending loans for the cost of tuition to the majority of part-time students. No one will contribute until they can afford to do so – when they are in well paid jobs...The graduate contribution system that we have designed will protect the lowest earning graduates and ensure that their contributions are linked to their ability to pay; indeed, under our new more progressive repayment system, 25%, maybe as many as 30% according to the IFS, of graduates with the lowest lifetime earnings will pay back less than they do now."
David Willetts, the Universities Minister claimed that the "progressive package" would put universities on a sustainable footing with extra freedoms and less bureaucracy. However, in return for that he stated that there would be "greater choice for students with a stronger focus on high quality teaching." The majority represented a substantial rebellion in the Government with the coalition's majority being cut by almost three quarters and with 21 Liberal Democrat and 6 Conservative MPs actually voting against the government. Amongst those voting no were former Lib Dem leaders
Sir Menzies Campbell and
Charles Kennedy. Three junior ministerial aids acting as Parliamentary Private Secretaries also chose to defy the government with Liberal Democrat aids
Michael Crockart,
Jenny Willott voting no whilst Conservative
Lee Scott chose to abstain. All three did so knowing that in order to defy the government whip they would also have to resign from the positions they held.
Judicial review In 2012, the High Court granted permission for a judicial review to be heard in regards to the increase in top up fees. However the challenge was not successful.
Adjustments in the 2015 Budget During the budget announcements of July 2015, George Osborne announced that tuition fees, which had been capped at £9,000 since 2012, would rise with inflation from the 2017–18 academic year onwards. He also announced that maintenance grants were to be scrapped from September 2016. The changes were not debated or voted on in the commons, instead being considered by the Third Delegated Legislation Committee in January 2016. The lack of a vote on the matter has drawn criticism, as by circumventing the commons the measures "automatically become law". The committee lacks the power to reject legislation independently. The budget announcements further proposed a freeze in the repayment threshold for tuition fee loans at £21,000; a figure which was previously set to rise with average earnings. The changes, if passed, will affect all Plan 2 tuition fee loans, backdated to cover loans taken out from 2012.
2017 tuition fee increase From the 2017–18 academic year, the upper limit on tuition fees rose to £9,250. ==Timeline==