Ministers are set to unveil a consultation on overhauling university funding, with options including tuition-fee cuts, caps on student numbers, and minimum entry requirements. The long-awaited document, a response to the Augar review of tertiary funding, aims to reduce the cost of England's student loan system.
The consultation lists potential policies such as reintroducing student-number controls, which were abandoned in 2015, and setting minimum entry requirements like barring school-leavers without GCSE passes in maths or English from accessing student loans. A cut in undergraduate tuition fees from £9,250 to £7,500, as recommended by the Augar review, is also under consideration, along with differential fees for courses like nursing and maths.
Divisions between No 10, the Department for Education, and the Treasury have led to a range of options being included. The Treasury favours direct fee cuts and increased repayments, while No 10 and the DfE prefer indirect measures such as minimum entry requirements and course caps. Education Secretary Gavin Williamson has previously raised using school grades as a bar for entry.
The consultation comes as record numbers of students apply for higher education, with about 44% of 18-year-olds in England applying for places. Government forecasts show total loans rising from £19bn this year to £22bn within five years. The policies aim to reduce unpaid loans, as currently only 12% of graduates are expected to repay their loans in full, with 54% written off.
Nick Hillman, director of the Higher Education Policy Institute, argues that lowering the repayment threshold would be more effective than other options. Research suggests reducing the threshold to £19,300 would nearly halve the number of graduates making no repayments, though the average graduate would pay £10,000 more.
