Lower Tuition Fees in the Future?

setmefree2

The Times Higher Education magazine surveyed English universities and asked them to supply their AAB and overall student numbers for 2012-13 on an anonymous basis.

One Russell Group university is 260 students short of predicted AAB numbers and around 500 down on total undergraduate numbers from last year, it revealed yesterday.
Another Russell Group university is 160 short of predicted AAB numbers and is 400 down on last year’s total student numbers.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2202971/More-5-000-places-left-unfilled-universities-A-level-results-slip-introduction-9-000-fees.html#ixzz26QSevzyP

setmefree2

No, seriously you couldn't make this up......

Russell group director laments redistribution of university places

Many prestigious universities still have courses available after government awarded more places to cheaper institutions

http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2012/sep/14/russell-group-redistribution-university-places?newsfeed=true

How can a policy of expansion of places at "prestigious Unis" end up wth less students going there?

setmefree2

Oh well - off to do some work....

#unbelievable

melancholly

setmefree2 wrote: »

Do you think Russell Group Unis will lower their typical offer to ABB? Looking at some of the websites the typical offers don't seem to have been lowered for 2013/2014 entry.

No - they don't need to. Enough students already get AAB or above to fill their places multiple times over. What may happen is that students that miss a grade in one subject still get their first choice. However, now that reputation really does matter, they can't afford to dilute their brand by being seen to lower standards......

setmefree2

All Liverpool universities to charge maximum £9,000 tuition fees next year

Amid swingeing budget cuts Liverpool Hope University said it had no option to join Liverpool John Moores and the University of Liverpool and charge £9,000 a year in fees from next September – a hike of £750.

Read More http://www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/liverpool-news/regional-news/2012/09/27/all-liverpool-universities-to-charge-maximum-9-000-tuition-fees-next-year-amid-shortage-of-brighter-students-99623-31913819/#ixzz27eUgSXmN

melancholly

http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=421227&c=2

I can't quickly find the student loan discussion thread, but here is as sensible a place as anywhere else to link to this article. It goes through all the reasons why the loans won't be as affordable as the government makes out. A little biased perhaps, but has a lot of numbers and explanations rather than just plain rhetoric.

gfplux

I am amazed that no one has mentioned that £9000 per year for a few lectures and tutorials over less than 40 weeks is VERY bad value.

Idiophreak

gfplux wrote: »

I am amazed that no one has mentioned that £9000 per year for a few lectures and tutorials over less than 40 weeks is VERY bad value.

This would be my concern. My wife had two hours of contact time per week one semester in her degree. At £3000 per semester, that's around £150 hour.

I wonder where all the money goes...

Seriously, though, I feel it "taints" university education in a way...because students will feel "entitled", I suppose...

If I was paying £9k/year for a degree, you'd better believe I'd be knocking on the lecturer's door every time I didn't understand anything, had a query, needed help...if a lecturer didn't show for a lecture (as happened frequently in my own degree), I'd be in the office asking when the lecture I'd paid for was going to be rescheduled...

I guess my concern is that once you adopt this "I'm paying for..." attitude, you risk missing out on the independent learning and enquiry which is, sorry *was*, the point of a university education.

The_One_Who

gfplux wrote: »

I am amazed that no one has mentioned that £9000 per year for a few lectures and tutorials over less than 40 weeks is VERY bad value.

You also get access to a library, full of very expensive books and pretty much unlimited access to both paper and online journals, something you can access all year around. You can make brilliant use of academics to talk to and discuss certain topics, if you want to. A lot of sporting and socialising activities are heavily subsidised as well.

If a student is only going to the lectures and tutorials, then that is their own fault for not making full use of the facilities made available to them.

Idiophreak

The_One_Who wrote: »

A lot of sporting and socialising activities are heavily subsidised as well.

Although, certainly when I was at uni, these subsidies were provided by the student union, NUS and the athletic union - all of which you had to pay extra to join.