17th December 2010, 01:28 PM
I too am more shocked by the amount of increase, rather than the concept of students contributing to the cost. I admit, I did get my uni degree for free - though lost my grant due to confusion as to how much I could earn in part-time work (mea culpa) However, I have two children who are doing well enough to be eligible for HE if they chose. To accommodate this, the family had been budgeting for a certain amount to be set aside for their fees/living expenses, plus a modest increase, between now and their earliest entry dates to uni in - 2012 being the earliest. Now, we can forget our plan and have had to revisit the figures. Firstborn now knows that she will have to carry a debt burden for most of her working life if she doesn't get a well-paid job. She is a very capable scientist, and was considering medical subjects. Forget that now - she has downsized her ambitions because 4, 5 or 6 years science courses (likely to be closer to the 9k mark) are off the table - a 50k debt before living expenses is too much to consider at the moment. It saddens me so much to see her realising that her dreams might be fading before she has even started. Her Dad lived his dream - I feel so sad for her and her generation.