Attack on student fees ‘ignorance’

From next year fees will triple, allowing English universities to charge up to £9,000 annually, with graduates paying back their loans once they are earning £21,000-a-year or more.

However a poll of almost 2,000 adults, commissioned by the Independent Taskforce on Student Finance Information, found that more than half had little or no understanding of how the new fees system will work.

More than a quarter thought that students will have to pay their fees up front and just over a third knew that students will pay nothing up front.

Finance experts said the figures were a “national scandal” and accused politicians of leaving the nation “ill-equipped and uneducated” about how the system will work.

Over half, 55 per cent of those questioned, said that the new tuition fee system will make going to university less, or much less attractive, the poll found.

Almost one-in-five believe that graduates will “never” have any debt from their student loan written off and just 38 per cent knew that any remaining loan debt will be wiped out after 30 years.

Martin Lewis of Money Saving Expert, and head of the Taskforce, said: “The communication of tuition fees by all parties over the last few years is a national scandal.

“They’ve left us as a nation ill-equipped and uneducated about how this crucial and very different form of finance works.

“We need to start a war on this ignorance – after all, if students don’t understand the true cost, how can they decide if it’s worth it.”