Tuition Fees (Hansard, 30 October 1997)

§ Mr. Öpik
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how he intends to deal with those students who fail to meet their repayments on tuition fees; what provision he has made for this; and if he will make a statement. [13160]

§ Dr. Howells
Universities and colleges will be responsible for collecting tuition fees from their students and for deciding what should happen in the case of students who fail to pay their fees, bearing in mind that their grants from the Higher Education Funding Council for England will assume this new source of income.

§ Mrs. Browning
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if all university students from throughout the United Kingdom will be charged a flat rate tuition fee of £3,000 for a degree level course. [13361]

§ Dr. Howells
Full-time undergraduate students will be required to contribute up to £1,000 a year towards tuition fees, depending on the assessment of parental or spouse's income. It will be possible for full-time undergraduate students from England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland to undertake a degree course for a maximum contribution of £3,000 to tuition fees, but students may opt for degree courses lasting longer than three years. In that case, the total level of contribution, depending on assessment of parental or spouse's income, will be higher, subject to the special arrangements which will apply to students on medical and dental courses in year five and beyond and to Scottish students taking four-year honours degrees, in recognition of the fact that many Scottish students will have spent only one year in the sixth form. No contributions will be required from students from low-income families.

§ Mrs. Browning
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what representations he has made to the Scottish Office in respect of university tuition fees for students from England and Wales. [13362]

§ Dr. Howells
We have asked the Scottish Office to encourage Scottish universities, where they do not do so already, to admit English and Welsh students with appropriate A-levels into the second year of their four-year honours degree courses, so that English and Welsh students will be able to obtain a Scottish honours degree for the same maximum contribution—£3,000— towards tuition fees as Scottish students. Students from low-income families will not, however, be required to contribute to fees.