Students urge end to top-up fees

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Hundreds of undergraduates from across England will attend an event organised by the National Union of Students (NUS) setting out an alternative system which they say will be fairer to students, but still generate income for the sector.

The meeting comes as new research by Universities UK (UUK) found that vice-chancellors want to see tuition fees doubled to around £6,500.

The report sets out a number of scenarios for the future of tuition fees, and says that students would begin to turn their backs on university if fees were raised to £7,000.

But it also finds that students would not be deterred if fees were raised to £5,000.

The report predicts that if fees were raised to £7,000, in 2016 a student would have £32,400 worth of debt after three years of study. If fees were raised to £5,000, the average total debt would be £26,400 in 2016.

A separate study by the BBC of 53 vice-chancellors revealed that two thirds want the fee cap to be raised, and more than half want it to be raised to £5,000 or more or for there to be no upper limit.

Between them, the university heads suggested fee levels of between £4,000 and £20,000 per year.

One in ten wanted the cap to be scrapped altogether, allowing universities to charge what they want.

At their launch, the NUS will put its proposals for an alternative higher education funding system. It says that students should be provided for according to their true needs, and should make a contribution to the costs of higher education according to the true benefit while they work.