The Setting of Student Fees

Now most of the university's fee levels for 2012 have been announced it seems that the majority have gone for £9,000 or quite near to this. The Government predictably seems to be horrified that universities have made a rational decision given the restrictions that have been put upon them. At present, most Arts and Humanities courses bring in around £7,200 per student, so in theory any fee below that would cause a loss for University (unless there were counter-balancing cuts). The Government has also been making cutbacks in funding to Universities in the run up to 2012, and want to restrict the numbers of overseas students (another important source of income to universities). Another factor is that there is likely to be a drop in student applications for 2012 entry (both UG and PG) which may also cause a drop in income.
    So it seems that the universities have taken the only option open to them. After all, it costs a similar amount to teach a student whether they go to Oxford or Oxford Brookes, therefore they ought to have a similar fee. If all the ex-polys charged much less than the Russell Group Universities, then they would look as if they were offering a much inferior course, and also have less money to ensure that this was not the case. It will be interesting to see how the Government responds to this rationalism.