Oxford and Cambridge to join £9,000 club on fees

Students whose family income is below £25,000 would pay £6,000 and receive a maintenance bursary of up to £1,625

• Jessica Shepherd, education correspondent
• The Guardian, Wednesday 9 February 2011
• Article history

 

Cambridge university wants to triple fees in autumn next year. Photograph: Graham Turner for the Guardian

Senior managers at Oxford and Cambridge universities are intent on charging £9,000 a year in tuition fees, the maximum allowed, it has emerged.


A consultation paper shows Cambridge wants to almost triple fees to £9,000 as soon as it can in autumn next year. The university will charge the maximum of £3,375 for this autumn.


Students whose family income is below £25,000 would pay £6,000 and receive a maintenance bursary of up to £1,625, under plans from Cambridge's working group on fees, published internally for consultation. Means testing will taper this £3,000 reduction to zero when family income exceeds £42,000.


Oxford's pro-vice-chancellor, Tony Monaco, has said fees of less than £8,000 would lose the university money because of national cuts to teaching and other grants. Hhe told a Congregation, a formal meeting of senior members of the university, that Oxford subsidised undergraduates by £80m.


"That is already straining research and infrastructure ... Were we to charge £9,000, the additional income would be £14m a year." This would be used to improve outreach activities and waive fees for the poorest students.


The university calculates that to waivefees for the poorest by £3,000, would be the equivalent of charging all undergraduates £8,500. Oxford will make its decision on fees in March.


David Willetts, the universities minister, has said fees of £9,000 will be allowed only in "exceptional circumstances". MPs voted to raise tuition fees in December, after the Lib Dems pledged in their manifesto to scrap fees. The government loans students the fees until they graduate and are earning £21,000 a year.


Aaron Porter, president of the National Union of Students, said: "We can now expect a race to the top now as universities rush to gain kudos by joining the '£9,000 group' as quickly as possible. How long before the most expensive start asking for the freedom to charge even more?"


The Cambridge report argues that even at £9,000, the university is still "carrying the burden of a significant loss per student … To charge less than the maximum would be fiscally irresponsible. Most if not all of our peers will charge the maximum."


A university spokesman said: "This report has been published online for consultation … It follows due consideration by a working party made up of senior academic, college and student representatives."


Universities are expected to raise fees to at least £6,000. They have to submit their plans to the government's Office for Fair Access, which can decline proposals.


New universities say they will be forced to raise fees to more than £6,000 because of cuts to teaching funds, and are concerned that students from low-income families will not be able to afford them.