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Blair seeks to calm tuition fee fears { December 4 2002 }

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   http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/2542331.stm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/2542331.stm

Wednesday, 4 December, 2002, 16:31 GMT
Blair seeks to calm tuition fee fears

Parents will not have to pay thousands of pounds up front so their children can go to university, Tony Blair has told MPs.
Mr Blair tried to calm the feverish speculation over the idea of allowing some universities to charge top-up tuition fees after Downing Street acknowledged cabinet splits on the issue.

Insisting the "status quo is not an option", Mr Blair refused to rule out top-up fees because the government's proposals were being published next month.

Thousands of students protested about student debt and the prospect of higher fees in a mass rally in London on Wednesday.

Undergraduates already have to pay annual upfront tuition fees of up to £1,100 at all universities in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and it is feared increasing those will deter poorer students.

Chancellor's 'opposition'

Speaking about the government's review, Mr Blair said: "It will increase access to universities. It will not mean parents are having to pay upfront thousands in fees."

Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith picked up on reports that Chancellor Gordon Brown has called top-up fees "ridiculous" and favoured a graduate tax.

Mr Blair brushed off the suggestion of a split with his chancellor but said that with universities facing an £8bn infrastructure investment backlog, change was needed.

"The one thing that is absolutely clear is that the status quo is not an option," he said.

The government looks unlikely to increase funding by raising general taxation.

Earlier, the prime minister's official spokesman said there would be a "discussion" across government on the issue.

That recognition of the growing divisions came as Scotland Secretary, Helen Liddell joined those to have voiced opposition to the fees plan.

International Development Secretary Clare Short has described top-up fees as "a very bad idea".


Going cold on idea?

Mr Blair's spokesman said students were entitled to "demonstrate and make their voices heard", but they should wait to see what ministers proposed in January.

The spokesman added: "There is no magic solution. It is going to involve very difficult choices."

Earlier, former Labour health secretary Frank Dobson said some universities were suggesting fees of to £15,000 a year - more than some families' annual income.

"If we have got very high top up fees, then the only people who will be able to go to the most prestigious and expensive universities would be rich Brits and rich foreign students," said Mr Dobson.

"It would turn our universities system into a market place... We are going to get chequebook entry - we have got to avoid that at all costs."

Mr Dobson told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that extra cash for universities should come from general taxation, not a graduate tax.

Scotland Secretary Ms Liddell, in a speech at Aberdeen University, warned against treating undergraduates as "cash cows" to fund higher education.

'Cheap solution'


The Liberal Democrats are warning the strength of public feeling against top-up fees matches opposition to the poll tax.

Lib Dem leader Charles Kennedy said: "We reject the government's current 'pile em high - sell 'em cheap' approach to higher education."

And Conservative education spokesman Damian Green said top-up fees would still be a problem for the less well-off, even if there was some sort of grant system for the poorest.

"You might have a perverse situation where the rich could afford to go to university and the poor but not the middle class," he told Today.

More than 80 Labour MPs, however, have signed a parliamentary petition opposing top-up fees.

Mixture expected

Barry Sheerman, Labour chairman of the Commons education select committee, thought ministers were worried by the reaction to the top-up fees debate.

He predicted their proposals would mix some fees increases with deferred payments.

Mr Sheerman was not enthusiastic about top-up fees, but thought that if they were introduced they would be strictly capped at £3,000-4,000.

He added: "We have wonderful ambitions for expanding universities and keeping them world class and getting more kids from working class backgrounds into higher education.

"If we don't like top-up fees, we have to come up with something else because it is a very big bill."



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