Students disheartened as tuition fees rise to £9,535
Oxford Brookes students worry about the impact on their finances by the consequential change in England's university sector
As the new academic year starts next September, undergraduate tuition fees will rise to £9,535 in England after eight years.
Even though the fees have not changed since 2017, from 2025 there will be a £285 rise. We were curious what Oxford Brookes students’ opinions were on this topic and how they think this is going to affect them, and we got a variety of answers.
Jessica, English Literature student, expressed, how she thinks that “young people in this country have been made to carry a huge burden by having to pay this amount for tuition fees and they have to face financial stress too early on”.
“It is extremely challenging to look after ourselves financially, when we also have our mental and physical well-being to focus on”, she said.
She also believes that this will “make people question if they even want to go to university”, and that in her opinion this is “just a further step in the wrong direction”.
The reason for this increase after eight years is inflation. As a result, the value of tuition fees has deteriorated, and universities are now in a “financial crisis”, according to The Guardian.
Danny, who is an international student, shared a similar opinion from a different perspective. He thinks that the increase would only be fair for first years, and only if they knew about this previously, but “for second and third years, who already had a plan of having to pay a fix amount, changing the fees would be a huge setback”.
This increase impacts international students as well, maybe even more, since there is a number of them who pay their tuition fees instead of taking out a loan, and it has already been reported, that VISA applications from foreign students have dropped by 13% from previous years.
On the contrary, Ruby, Creative Writing student, believes that the rise will not affect her too much. “Since it is a loan that I will be able to pay back in small increments, the increase does not impact that too much”. She further expressed that she thinks “a lot of students know that it will be hard to pay this loan off in full, so I may not ever pay it off”.
On a more positive note, as a result of tuition fees rising, maintenance loans will also go up, to support students; Bridget Phillipson, Education Secretary stated that “this will help students manage the cost of living”