UK education secretary Bridget Phillipson has announced that university tuition fees in England are set to rise next academic year, with the maximum fee increasing by £285 to £9,535. This will be the first increase in university education for domestic undergraduate students since 2017, when fees were raised to £9,250.
The additional income is sorely needed. Data from the Institute for Fiscal Studies shows that the money spent on undergraduates’ education has been declining in real terms. On average, £9,600 was allocated per UK undergraduate student in 2023-24, compared to almost £12,000 in 2012-13. On the other hand, other educational stages – early years and primary education – have seen real term increases since 2012.
Had fees been linked to inflation since their raise to £9,000 in 2012, they would have reached nearly £15,000 by now.
