Middle-class students face higher fees

London: Middle-class students face a hike in tuition fees and a drop in grants following £400 million (Dh2,347 million) university budget cuts.

Ministers have appointed ex-BP boss Lord Browne to review the arrangements for fees and grants with a view to making recommendations next year.

Wednesday's £398 million cut for 2010-11 — the first time in a decade that public funding per student has been reduced, will heap pressure on the inquiry to conclude that students must pay higher tuition fees.

Higher interest rates

They also face having to pay higher interest rates on student loans — which are currently pegged to inflation, and the prospect of grants being cut for all but the poorest students.

Alistair Darling has already revealed universities will be expected to cut a further £600 million from their budgets between 2011 and 2013. Any hike in fees or reductions in student support is likely to hit middle-income students hardest because they subsidise poorer students.

Universities are also likely to channel some of their increased fee income into bursaries to help disadvantaged students — in effect a levy on middle-income families.

There was mounting anger on Wednesday night over the cuts, which have shocked universities with their severity and their timing days before Christmas. Academics accused ministers of wanting institutions to deliver "more with less".

Under the plans, universities that flout recruitment limits to help meet soaring demand for places will be hit with fines running into tens of thousands of pounds. Students said they feared it would lead to larger class sizes and the dole queue for thousands of hopefuls unable to secure places.