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Sheffield University to charge students maximum fees allowed by the Government at ... £9,000
Students from Sheffield University graduating.
THE cost of studying at Sheffield University is set to soar as it announced it is tripling students’ tuition fees to £9,000 a year.
Students starting next autumn will face fees of £27,000 for a three-year degree after the university’s ruling body last night decided to charge the maximum amount, up from the current annual cap of £3,290.
Sheffield has followed the lead of other elite universities, including Oxford and Cambridge, which have also chosen to charge the top figure.
The increase comes after the Government withdrew nearly all direct state funding for university teaching from 2012, giving universities the option of hiking fees to cover the shortfall.
The university said the decision was ‘not taken lightly’, and has promised to support poorer students financially - but nearly two-thirds will still have to take out loans or pay the full amount.
David Blunkett, former Education Secretary and MP for Brightside and Hillsborough, said Sheffield University was ‘between a rock and a hard place’, adding the fee increase was an ‘inevitable outcome’ of the Government’s decision to cut funding.
And Sheffield Central MP Paul Blomfield expressed concerns that students will be put off going to university by the high cost of courses.
Prof Keith Burnett, Sheffield University’s vice-chancellor, said: “We now face a real challenge not of our choosing, but one which we owe it to future students to accept.
“At a time when many sectors of society are feeling the impact of cuts and young people are increasingly concerned about employment and debt, we must effectively deliver and communicate the positive worth of university.
“We will not do this by underestimating what this investment will mean to graduates, but rather by championing an education which is worthy of that investment.”
Mr Blunkett said: “The government have pulled 80 per cent of the funding for teaching and the only way they can maintain quality is by pulling in the fees from students.
“This in turn is being borrowed by the government to the tune of £10.6 billion. The merry-go-round is a ridiculous example of ideology over common sense.”
He added: “To have to borrow that sort of money to hand to students who then have to pay what was previously funded through general taxation puts the universities in an impossible position.”
“It’s a complete catch-22. It becomes the given that the best universities charge the maximum, then you’re on a spiral which individual universities can’t get off.”
Mr Blomfield said: “The government has given them very little alternative. I fear that students will be deterred from going to university by the fees - not by Sheffield’s fees in particular, I fear students will be deterred from universities across the country.”
The university is offering a ‘comprehensive package’ of financial support for next year’s students, and says more than 6,000 will be eligible for some form of help.
Bursaries will be given to all students whose parents earn less than £42,000, available as either a cash or accommodation discount, and some students will be handed a fee waiver for their first year.
Mature students from low income backgrounds are being offered fee reductions on the university’s foundation programme in combined studies, while students from low participation backgrounds are promised more than £13,000 in aid over a three-year course.
The university says £12 million will be spent on widening participation by 2015, compared to £6.7 million currently.
More than two-thirds of universities setting fees for 2012 intend to charge £9,000. Sheffield Hallam is announcing its decision next Tuesday, the deadline for a figure to be announced.
The Government initially predicted most universities would only charge more than £6,000 in ‘exceptional circumstances’. The Treasury’s financial models are based on universities charging an average of £7,500.
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Comments
There are 48 comments to this article
Page 1 of 4
PaulSheffield
Tuesday, April 12, 2011 at 08:39 PMGood I wish it was 15k we have more than enough underwater basket weavers, Beatles experts and god knows what other barm pot degrees they have invented....
White Bloke
Tuesday, April 12, 2011 at 08:36 PMWay to go Clegg YOU MORON !
Los Blancos Galactico Rossoneri Mancunian
Tuesday, April 12, 2011 at 08:07 PMYes Alex3659 Students should get a job and earn upto £9,000! Nothing is free for students!
Sir Taxedalot
Tuesday, April 12, 2011 at 07:45 PMMany people in the public sector work as hard as folks in the private sector. The difference is that the private sector has to be efficient to survive so the work done produces much more. The public sector is entirely process oriented with processes that take forever to produce very minor results. On top of that the public sector is very restrictive, highly controlled, lacking in personal responsibility and very risk averse. The result is lots of people working very hard but achieving very little, making too many mistakes and taking no responsibility for them. Cuts will be made to budgets but not to processes.
Alex3659
Tuesday, April 12, 2011 at 05:51 PMThe state provides a FREE education until the age of 16 . if people want to study further then they SHOULD PAY FOR IT .Simples. If the students cant afford to pay for it , they should join the real world AND WORK FOR A LIVING LIKE THE REST OF US TAXPAYERS. Stop whinging , stop trying to free load , and GET A JOB.
doggtheveryspecialdeputy
Tuesday, April 12, 2011 at 05:16 PMAh it all maked sence now I did wonder where the narow mindedness comes from, I get paid a happy £36k as a LCpl in the Royal Engineers(thankyou public sector). Its now clear he is someone who is clearly scraping for a scrap of meaning left in his "real world".
Deeboy
Tuesday, April 12, 2011 at 04:24 PMAny chance that the private sector might sponsor students of proven ability to feed them into industries of the companies choice? Might be a good way to go keep the brightest and the best off the scrapheap and pay the loans back AND repay their student loans and any sponsorship? And yup, you'd be right. I don't believe that lowering everyone to the lowest common denominator is the way to go. And I can see an upside for intelligent unemployed over 50's. They can retrain - and may never have to repay.
MuslamicRayGun
Tuesday, April 12, 2011 at 02:41 PM1graybags is a BNP member, as are others (waywoodwindbag, horseman). I like 1graybag's support of the private sector given that the BNP will very shortly be bust because of the incompetent and corrupt way its finances have been run. They are putting just 2 candidates up in Sheffield next month, including windbag. So much for standing on your own 2 feet and survival of the fittest. They tried, they failed, they went bust. Now all they can do is whinge on here. Private sector losers. And god help 1graybags' son at college. What's he studying? Invading Poland?
Martowl
Tuesday, April 12, 2011 at 01:18 PMSeem to have hit a nerve.
doggtheveryspecialdeputy
Tuesday, April 12, 2011 at 01:14 PMAnd its more the point of the the way "the real world" is used, It comes across derogatory as in 'we have to work harder' to live in the real world which I can safely tell you is not true in just as many cases as it probably is true.
doggtheveryspecialdeputy
Tuesday, April 12, 2011 at 12:57 PMP 35 fair point 1graybags, I work in the public sector and I understand how people can 'get away with it' but I get reviewed every 6 months and if I want any hope of a promotion then slacking will be seen from a mile away. I get paid a salary and sometime take half days because I can. It is very hard to sacknot pay someone within a public sector job but they wont ever get anywhere.
Jeremiah
Tuesday, April 12, 2011 at 12:51 PMWell, Chaucer, was it value for money?
Jeremiah
Tuesday, April 12, 2011 at 12:47 PMComment removed by moderator
1graybags
Tuesday, April 12, 2011 at 12:34 PMdiesel_dogg, post 19 .... see post 30 Martowl for a good description of "the real world" ........ in general the real world = the private sector, where pay is results based and failure is not an option. I know of many in education, hospitals and town halls etc that work hard but I also know others that toss it off and if thats the life you want, you can only live it in the public sector.
doggtheveryspecialdeputy
Tuesday, April 12, 2011 at 12:24 PMMartowl p.s. why would someone have to tell you about the pay they are taking home just so you can try to make them justify what they earn?
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