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Fees rise ‘may hit graduate courses’
Government plans to raise university tuition fees to £9,000 a year could hit postgraduate courses, a survey suggests.
Many students say they would not have continued, or will not continue studying if forced to pay the new maximum fees for their undergraduate course, according to a poll by student website the Student Room.
The online survey of almost 700 students found that just two fifths (41 per cent) said they would definitely still have done, or will do, a postgraduate course if they had to pay £9,000 a year for their first degree.
Almost a third (29.9 per cent) said they would not have, or will not, continue studying if they had to pay the higher rate for their undergraduate course, and the rest said they were unsure.
MPs voted to raise tuition fees for new undergraduate students to £9,000 from 2012 at the end of last year.
Under the plans universities were given the green light to charge up to £6,000 a year, and £9,000 in exceptional circumstances. But so far, the indications are that around two thirds of institutions are planning to charge £9,000.
The poll also found that two thirds (65.8 per cent) say they would not do a postgraduate degree because it is too expensive, while half (50.7 per cent) are put off by the lack of funding options available.
And a fifth (21.9 per cent) said they had had enough of studying.
But almost three in four (73.2 per cent) did admit that they believe studying to postgraduate level makes someone more employable.
The marketing director of the Student Room, Jamie O’Connell, said: “With the cost of a degree set to rise significantly and more students having high levels of debt as graduates it is no surprise that people will think very carefully whether they want to potentially add to that debt by studying at a postgraduate level.
“Just as the UK higher education sector and government are strengthening the information available to undergraduate applicants to help ensure they make informed decisions, so too there needs to be clearer information as to what tangible benefits students get from studying postgraduate qualifications.”
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Saturday 26 May 2012
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