The secretary of state said ahead of a government review of the system that more “variety” is needed in the price of university education. Damian Hinds also suggested tuition fees should reflect the value of each degree “to our society as a whole”.
This is all because a committee of MPs stated that there was no justice in such “high interest rates” on student loans. Labor states that another review would not solve the problems posed by increases in interest rates and the rise of fees.
Prime Minister Theresa May launched a review on Monday that will consider freezing or cutting £9,250 tuition fees and making interest rates lower to reduce levels of graduate debt. Funding for vocational courses and apprenticeships will also be given a discussion to tackle skills shortages.
Mr. Hinds appeared on the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show but refused to go into specifics about the review, which he said would be carried out by an independent panel. Hinds tried defending the current system wherein students begin to repay fees when they earn over £21,000, rising to £25,000 but he said that when it was devised, ministers had not expected so many courses to be charging the same fee.
Damian Hinds stated “What we need to look at is the different aspects of pricing – the cost that it is to put on the course, the value that it is to the student and also the value to our society as a whole and to our economy for the future”.