Government Plans To Slash Student Numbers In Student Loan Funding Gap

Reports emerging suggest that as over two-thirds of English Universities plan to introduce the maximum student fee for courses of £9,000 the government are planning to slash student numbers. The increase in fees means that there will be a huge demand on student loans - a demand that the government cannot meet.

The coalition government initially issued guidelines that it would only expect exceptional universities to charge the maximum £9,000 but now it has become clear that the vast majority of Universities are introducing the maximum fee. Even low performing Universities, such as London South Bank, want to introduce fees of £8,000.

Some organisations, including the union Unite, have accused Universities of colluding on fee setting. Universities that charge less than the maximum fearing that it implies that they are a lower status establishment.

The increased fees, which come in in 2012, will see a huge surge in applications for bigger student loans. The fear is that the upfront loans will put a huge strain on government finances. It is known that some within the coalition government are already putting plans together to slash the overall number of undergraduate places available to avoid creating an ongoing funding gap.

Despite deputy prime minister Nick CleggNick Clegg's outpourings on increasing social mobility many believe that the strides forward in getting more young people from poor backgrounds into higher education will be reversed. An English university education will once again perhaps become only available to the privileged few.