log：. Saving
As well as the framework setting out future priorities, the government is to begin a separate review of student fees in the autumn – trying to reconcile the demands for more funding from the universities with the unpopularity of raising tuition fees.
At present, universities are not allowed to raise tuition fees above the fixed cap – and the fees review will have to decide whether this upper limit should be raised or removed altogether.
The proposal for a no-fee degree would provide another option – saving the government the expense of financial support, while allowing students and their families to avoid fees and student debt.
This would depend on students having families that are able and willing to support them.
For parents, it would mean that in financial terms, sending a child to university would be similar to their being in the sixth form at school or college, with the family typically providing accommodation but with no fees for tuition.
There have been warnings that students from poorer families are more debt averse and this could have the appeal of a simple system, with no debts attached.
But it is also likely to raise concerns about inequalities in the student funding system – with different students facing different levels of debts.
There is growing pressure on the university system – and increasingly urgent calls for more funding.