MPs are debating university tuition fees

UKParliament

MPs are debating an e-petition relating to university tuition fees.

The petition wants to 'change the University fees from £9250 back to the £3000 fee for the UK.' Read the full text of the petition here.

Watch the debate on Parliament TV.

Read the official report of what was said in the debate

Spendless

I wish there wasn't a huge issue about this. Tuition fees most of the time are loaned in full. They do not create a financial barrier to anyone wanting to go to University. They do create a psychological barrier in some people, who are frightened of the number involved.

What does stop people going to University, is the issue surrounding the maintenance loan. Based on the household income of the house the prospective student lives in, it creates an issue when parents can't or won't contribute and the student hasn't got enough money to pay rent or live on. It isn't made clear to parents that this is the case and even though I knew it due to being a member on this site for many years, the actual cost of the halls of residence at the place we looked at this weekend for my eldest, has come as a shock to the system.

This is what I would like to see in the media and campaigned about, at the very least more transparency of the way the maintenance loan is worked out and the actual cost of student living not tuition.

Lokolo

They really should stop messing around with the scheme every 3-4 years. It just creates more and more confusion.

Tabbytabitha

Spendless wrote: »

I wish there wasn't a huge issue about this. Tuition fees most of the time are loaned in full. They do not create a financial barrier to anyone wanting to go to University. They do create a psychological barrier in some people, who are frightened of the number involved.

What does stop people going to University, is the issue surrounding the maintenance loan. Based on the household income of the house the prospective student lives in, it creates an issue when parents can't or won't contribute and the student hasn't got enough money to pay rent or live on. It isn't made clear to parents that this is the case and even though I knew it due to being a member on this site for many years, the actual cost of the halls of residence at the place we looked at this weekend for my eldest, has come as a shock to the system.

This is what I would like to see in the media and campaigned about, at the very least more transparency of the way the maintenance loan is worked out and the actual cost of student living not tuition.

That's nothing new though.

I was at university in the 70s with a couple of people whose parents wouldn't contribute so they'd had to work for 3 years to achieve independent student status. It wasn't the end if the world and, in some ways, was a positive.

Spendless

Tabbytabitha wrote: »

That's nothing new though.

I was at university in the 70s with a couple of people whose parents wouldn't contribute so they'd had to work for 3 years to achieve independent student status. It wasn't the end if the world and, in some ways, was a positive.

More people go now so more people are affected. It therefore needs to be made clearer to people that this is the situation so it can be planned for several years ahead. Too many people are discovering this too late. I only discovered what you've written within the last year, neither myself or my husband went to Uni, this is true of many parents. If you don't know from your own background, then you increase the chances of not knowing until your offspring look in to applying. I heard yet again last week of another friend telling her child they could only go to somewhere local as they couldn't afford to contribute (same circs as myself, mum and dad never gone to Uni, so only recently discovered the situation concerning maintainance loans)