Responding to comments by shadow universities secretary David Willetts to the Evening Standard, in which he hints that he would consider raising the cap on tuition fees to £7,000, NUS President Wes Streeting said:
“It is of serious concern that the Conservatives seem so relaxed about entertaining the notion of more than doubling fees when they have not committed to a clear policy for students and their families ahead of the general election.
“The issue is not merely whether students would get value for money if fees were to rise. We need to consider the effect the additional financial burden would have on students and their families. Students are already graduating with £20,000 of debt, and we owe it to them and their families to consider alternatives to the disastrous current system.
“NUS believes that a university education should be free at the point of use, with graduates giving back to the system according to how much they earn. Our proposals would give universities double the amount of funding they currently receive, while allowing people to go to university without the fear of debt.”