Vivienne Stern MBE comments on university fees rise and maintenance support announcement

Today’s decision cannot have been easy for government, but it is the right thing to do. Thriving universities are essential to a thriving UK, delivering stronger growth, better public services and improving individual life chances.  University leaders and government must work together to ensure that our universities are able to fire on all cylinders. 

A decade long freeze in England has seen inflation erode the real value of student fees and maintenance loans by around a third, which is completely unsustainable for both students and universities. Keeping pace with inflation stops the value of fees going down year after year. Importantly, this change will not see students paying more to study upfront; repayments are linked to earnings above a £25,000 threshold. The increase in maintenance loans is also very welcome and important. Maintenance loans in England are currently at their lowest level for nine years, so this increase was also urgently required to allow students to access the financial support they need while studying, especially given cost of living pressures.  

As set out in our recent Blueprint, universities also have to work to be as efficient and effective as possible, to serve the needs of the country. Some transformation can only be achieved through collaboration at a national level. We commit to working with university leaders and government to unlock this through our Efficiency and Transformation Taskforce