Universities will have to charge £7,000 annual fees just to break even

The analysis, released today by UCU, makes a mockery of government claims that only in exceptional cases would universities charge more than £6,000 a year. The union's findings reveal that every single English institution with undergraduates would have to charge more than £6,000 a year to plug the funding gap created by huge cuts to teaching budgets. The average fee would need to be £6,863.

In draft guidance released on Tuesday, the government said that any institution wishing to charge more than £6,000 a year would need to agree an 'access agreement' with the university access regulator OFFA. Any institution that breaches or fails to deliver its access agreement would face a fine of up to £500,000.

'Government claims that universities will only charge more than £6,000 a year in exceptional circumstances are completely bogus when one scratches at the surface of the plans'
Sally Hunt

UCU said its analysis highlighted how the entire landscape of higher education would change if the government pushed ahead with its plans for university funding. The union warned that shifting the burden of paying for a university education from the state to the student would not generate the extra funds universities say they need, nor would it provide an enhanced experience for the individual student.

Some institutions will lose all their government funding and need to charge as much as £7,700 a year just to maintain their current funding and fee levels. The union said it expected most institutions would charge more than the minimum level they would need to just stand still.

The union analysed how many students were taught with teaching budget funding in subjects that would largely not be protected under the government's cuts programme to slash teaching funding by 80% and using the remaining 20% largely to protect science, technology and engineering subjects.

UCU general secretary, Sally Hunt, said: 'Government claims that universities will only charge more than £6,000 a year in exceptional circumstances are completely bogus when one scratches at the surface of the plans. MPs need to think long and hard about whether or not they really think record fee levels benefit their constituents or our international reputation.

'By slashing the teaching grant and making students foot the bill we will see whole subject areas starved of public funds and possibly forced to close.'

The full report is available below.

Estimate of fees institutions would need to charge students to break even ranked highest to lowest

The figure for the resource needed per HEFCE Price Group C (subjects with a studio, laboratory or fieldwork element) and D (classroom-based) student to break even is based on the total HEFCE Notional grant per FTE student in these Price Groups, plus the current flat rate and maximum top-up tuition fee (£3,290 in 2010-11), divided by the total number of Price Group C and D students at the particular institution. It should be noted that some Price Group C subjects, such as mathematics, are likely to be protected.

Notes to table

HEFCE = Higher Education Funding Council for England
Price Group C = Subjects with a studio, laboratory or fieldwork element
Price Group D = classroom-based subjects
FD = Foundation Degree
UG = undergraduate
Standard resource = HEFCE funding per full-time equivalent student where price group C = £5,136 and price group D = £3,951 in 2010-11
Notional grant = HEFCE funding minus £1,310 flat rate tuition fee
£3,290 tuition fee = flat rate + top-up in 2010-11
Source: www.hefce.ac.uk

• Estimate of tuition fees needed to replace proposed funding reductions, Dec 10 [494kb]
• Estimate of tuition fees needed to replace proposed funding reductions, Dec 10 [535kb]