§ 18. Tony LloydTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will make a statement on proposals to introduce top-up fees for university courses. [135249]
§ Alan JohnsonFrom 2006/07, we are proposing to allow higher education institutions to charge variable fees of between £0 and £3,000 per year per course, subject to their having an Access Agreement approved by the Office for Fair Access. We intend to abolish upfront fees in 2006: instead students can defer paying their fees until after they graduate. Graduates will only start making repayments on their student loan once they are earning over £15,000, and then at a rate linked to their income.
We will continue to provide a means-tested grant to cover the standard tuition fee (£1,125 in 2003/04), and propose to introduce from 2004 a new additional grant of up to £1.000, as part of a package of measures to ensure that more young people continue to take up higher education opportunities. Access Agreements will focus on what institutions are doing to encourage more people from disadvantaged backgrounds to apply: they will be required to say how they will recycle a proportion of their additional fee income into bursaries and other financial support to students from poorer families.