<p>Couldn't resist posting this from today's Times (UK) to provide some international context for the CC forum :</p>
<p>"Some universities that charge the maximum £9,000 annual tuition fee may look rather silly when students opt for cheaper alternatives, David Willetts, the Universities Minister, said yesterday.</p>
<p>Elite institutions such as Oxford, Cambridge and Londons Imperial College are expected to be joined by less prestigious universities in imposing the maximum charge, amid fears that setting lower fees may saddle them with a reputation for offering cut-price education.</p>
<p>But Mr Willetts said that for many courses there was no reason for charges above £6,000-£7,000, and said that the student charters being launched this week would provide young people with transparency about the education on offer so that they are able to make informed choices about whether proposed fees are value for money.</p>
<p>Certainly there will be in the student charters we are launching this week much greater expectation [on universities], Mr Willetts told Sky Newss Murnaghan programme.</p>
<p>Universities are going to have to tell those customers what they are offering. I think there have been universities that havent provided the kind of proper teaching experience that students expect and if they try to charge anything approaching £9,000 for that, I think they will find that there are alternatives available for many young people. </p>
<p>British students really are getting a raw deal in my view. From what I understand in the US a student can opt to study at their local state university at a reduced price, alas no such luxury exists here. Ever since fees were introduced there has been a uniform price across the board, regardless of quality - and that looks set to continue no matter what David Willetts says.</p>
<p>These days, the pound is worth about 1.6 dollars, so 9K pounds = $14,600. That is similar to the tuition charged at some U.S. flagship universities today. UW (Washington) will be charging around $9,500 this Fall, which will rise another $1K the following year. I’m told that this is below the national average.</p>
<p>Well, Universities are business. The charge is set at the price point at which the market can bear. Just like buying a half-million-dollar car, some folks like the brand, see the intangible value of the Cambridge degree and are willing to pay. College degree, in a sense, is a commodity of trade. I would say, let them have it. Water always seek it won level. When there is no buyer for the commodity, then the price will drop. Until then, there is very little else we can do about it.</p>
<p>There are two main problems that stem from the introduction of tuition fees in the UK:-</p>
<p>1) Families have had little/ no time to save up for these fees. Yes some go for a reduced amount/ for free, but most people earn too much to qualify, but not enough where shelling out £9k (plus living costs etc) is not a financial burden. </p>
<p>2) There is not the range of financial or merit aid available in the UK as the universities have not yet been able to build up their endowments to support this. There is aid based on income, but as stated above, there is the big middle class squeeze going on, of which a lot of US posters here will understand. But there is no merit aid, no tuition-waivers for top performers, no scholarships worth 50% tuition etc. I’m sure it will come in time but it’s not there yet.</p>
<p>Most of the criticism is part of the slow, oil tanker turning, change from a Big Govt to a Big Society (to coin a Cameron-ism). Most Brits have grown up with free/subsidized public services that were pretty good and it’s just not affordable anymore… but when that is what you’re used to, it’s a big upheaval…remember, NHS, free uni, pensions, unemployment etc were all post war initatives so are firmly ingrained in the culture here, and are seen as ‘rights’ by a lot of the population (and media, and politicians!)</p>
<p>What would be your reaction if your daughters university suddenly decided to triple its fees for the next academic year? You might think £9k is cheap by comparison, but it really isn’t, not when you consider the fact that it was free only a few years ago. And once your factor in living expenses (which can easily be an extra £8k per year), the price of a college education starts to look uncomfortably similar to that in the US - without any of the benefits of large endowments or financial aid.</p>
<p>Similar to the US? For approx $19,000 a year a student can attend Oxford, yes? Do you know how much Harvard costs per year? Tuition/room and board are over $50,000.</p>
<p>That is a slightly disingenuous analogy to make. How many people at Harvard pay that amount? Not many I imagine, indeed the very poor pay very little or nothing at all. Whereas at Oxford it doesn’t matter how poor you are, you could be homeless and you’d still pay top whack along with everybody else.</p>
<p>P.S. Where did you get the $19k figure from? It’s closer to $30,000.</p>
<p>I would be overjoyed if suddenly the best universities in my country dropped both their tuition and living expenses to below the levels of my state flagship, itself less than half the price of a solid private.</p>
<p>Seriously, you have no idea how silly you sound, although I suppose that it hurts if you expected it to be completely free. But here across the pond, we really can’t sympathize with complaints about your super-cheap cost of attendance over in the UK.</p>
<p>May I remind the American posters of the 2009 protests following the announcement of a 32% tuition increase for UC schools? Nobody reported being "overjoyed’ that a UC education was still cheaper than in-state tuition at Penn State, or asked the protesters to shut up because they sound silly and no one can sympathize. </p>
<p>What exactly is it in your eyes that makes the British tuition hike trivial? Tuition fees are about to triple, increasing by more than $9,000 in a single year to $14,500. That’s not cheap in-state tuition even by US standards.</p>
<p>Actually, the more I learn, the more jealous I am. The fact that everyone is required to “pay top whack” is probably what’s keeping your prices so incredibly low. Here we have all kinds of variation. But let me assure you, many of us are getting whacked with top whack - and whacked a lot harder than your top whack.</p>
<p>Wow! I’m googling around, and it looks like there are a lot of US students that head to the UK each year to attend universities at bargain prices. And Oxford is cheap, cheap, cheap!</p>
<p>This is the most incredible nugget of information that I’ve found yet on CC. This never, ever would have occurred to me - definitely need to investigate this. What if I could give my son an international university experience at far less than half price? That’s the experience of a lifetime!</p>