University fees in the UK frozen at £9,250

The government has recently announced that UK university fees will continue to be frozen at a maximum of £9,250 per year, a cap that has been in place since 2017. Although this freeze means that tuition fees will not rise for our students, there are large swathes of the population looking for further reform when it comes to university fees in the UK, especially in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Going to university during COVID-19

Universities have been in the news a lot during the COVID-19 pandemic, whether it’s discussing outbreaks on campuses, debating whether allowing university students to travel between their student housing and homes is safe or the detriment that the pandemic has had on the university experience despite students paying the same amount. If you are a parent of a child currently studying at university, this is news you’ll have kept a keen eye on and will surely have an opinion on.

One of the major topics that have been debated is that of fees, where a large proportion of students have found themselves unable to go in for face-to-face classes and learning digitally instead. Students that have experienced the negative effects of COVID-19 are still finding themselves paying full price for a reduced university experience and many people are asking whether students are paying too much for university?

This year, the general consensus is, yes. As well as paying tuition fees for a reduced service, many students have been unable to return to their student accommodation due to government-imposed restrictions but are still paying rent on those rooms.

As you can imagine, this has not been unnoticed by students. Even in September last year, The Guardian reported that “UK universities predict a record student dropout rate” due to the pandemic with no idea of what was to come.

READ MORE: Helping 2020 university students during the COVID-19 pandemic

Are students paying too much for university in the UK?

It’s not just in reference to COVID-19 that the call for lower tuition has been voiced, in fact, a petition titled ‘Reduce University student tuition fees from £9,250 to £3000’ has over half a million signatures at the time of writing. Surely amplified by the effects of the pandemic, it’s clear that many people do feel as though the university experience is costing students too much money.

It seems that the conversations around university fees are far from over, and it will be interesting how the past year might affect decisions moving forward.

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