Between 1962 and 1997, students didn’t pay for university.
Unthinkable now, but it’s true. Since 1945 it had been commonplace for local authorities to cover the cost of tuition for students, and it was written into law in 1962 with the Education Act. For an entire generation, tuition was paid for by the government.
Over the years, there had been a growing worry that British universities were falling behind the rest of the world due to a lack of tuition fees. An inquiry was commissioned by Education Secretary, Gillian Shephard, in 1996 on the funding of higher education over the next 20 years – later to be known as the Dearing Report. Due to this, an understandable concern arose amongst the electorate that tuition fees would be reintroduced.
Labour leader Tony Blair sought to address these concerns, as the government in waiting, and in the run up to the 1997 General Election stated “Labour has no plans to introduce tuition fees for higher education”, this was echoed by Robin Cook, saying “We are quite clear that tuition costs must be met by the state.”
How could it then be that one year later, a bill was passed by Tony Blair’s government which reintroduced tuition fees?
The Findings of the Dearing Report
In the Summer of 1997, the Dearing Report stated additional billions in funding would be necessary over the 20 year period, which included £915mn by 2000. Despite public opposition, the report investigated the possibility of the increase in funding coming from students directly, through loans, a graduate tax or deferred contributions.
Blair’s government acted on the findings with the 1998 Teaching and Higher Education Act, which introduced tuition fees for students. A cap was placed at £1,000 per year, and by 1999-2000 maintenance grants would also be replaced by loans – paid back at 9% of a graduates income beyond £10,000. No apologies to students were given.
The 2001 General Election
In 2001, Education Secretary David Blunkett stated “I can now make the government’s position clear, there will be no levying of top-up fees in the next parliament if we win the election.”
This position was echoed in Labours 2001 manifesto, which bluntly stated “We will not introduce top-up fees and have legislated against them.”
Labour won the 2001 General Election, and in 2003 went on to triple tuition fees to £3,000 per year, requiring graduates to start paying it back upon earning £15,000 per year. Again, no apologies were given, and instead Blair would defend the move, saying “Graduates should contribute more to their university education.”
The Brown Years
After winning the vote on increasing tuition fees in 2006, Blair pledged “we will not propose any further increase […] during the lifetime of the next parliament.”
In 2009 tuition fees were raised by 2.04% to £3,290 per year and financial support for students was frozen. The recession was blamed for this, with Universities Minister, David Lammy, saying “In these difficult economic times, we are continuing to take difficult decisions in the interests of students, universities and taxpayers alike.”
Students did not receive an apology for being lied to a third time.
2010 – The Shifting of the Narrative
If you were to ask the average person who reintroduced tuition fees you would hear one name. Nick Clegg. The leader of the Liberal Democrats had repeatedly said he wished to abolish tuition fees, and said “we can commit to phasing out tuition fees.”
The 2010 General Election resulted in a hung parliament, and a coalition government between the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats was quickly agreed. Leaked documents later revealed that the Lib Dems had planned to abandon the pledge before the election, being in the knowledge it was a pledge unlikely to be fulfilled, but ultimately the pledge was made.
In 2010 the Liberal Democrats voted to triple tuition fees to £9,000 per year. This was not supposed to be the default fee, but a maximum, with the expectation being fees would be £6,000 instead, yet universities quickly rose to charging £9,000 for tuition. 21 Lib Dem MPs rebelled on the vote, however it still passed.
The student loan system was reformed, with students only beginning to pay off the fees if they earned over £21,000 per year, which is paid through general taxation. For a large minority of students, further education is still free at point of entry, and the Guardian found the number of disadvantaged students applying for university rose 72% between 2006 and 2015, suggesting that the new student loans system had actually made it easier for disadvantaged students to get to university.
In the only apology ever offered towards students, Nick Clegg said “I shouldn’t have committed to a policy that was so expensive when there was no money around.” The Liberal Democrats would lose 49 seats at the 2015 General Election, and Nick Clegg would resign as leader. Tuition fees were a leading cause of this.
The story now
Labour quickly jumped on the broken pledge by the Liberal Democrats, and due to effective messaging managed to push the prevailing narrative that the Liberal Democrats are the party which turned their back on students, and Labour are the party which defends students. This couldn’t be further from the truth.
Labour broke their promises on tuition fees three times, and despite currently being in government, have no plans to abolish or even reduce tuition fees over the course of the current parliament. 14 years on, it still is common to hear Labour members blaming Liberal Democrats for tuition fees. Many Lib Dem members who were still in primary school at the time of the vote will be able to recount a time they personally were blamed for tuition fees.
Labour lied to students, and then changed the narrative at the first opportunity in order to avoid blame for what they did. Students deserve the truth, and they deserve apologies. Tuition fees need to be reduced. Blame should be on those in power, not those who couldn’t do anything about it.