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University announces massive fees hike

Posted on - 22nd February, 2011 - 12:00pm | Author - | Posted in - Campaigns, Preston News

Dr McVicar talking at a higher fees debate last year

Tuition fees at the University of Central Lancashire will almost triple within three years, Vice-Chancellor Malcolm McVicar has announced.

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Speaking at an open staff meeting on Friday, he said the university will struggle to replace lost government funding, and could lose £30million a year unless it charges fees of around £8,000.

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Dr McVicar said: “Last time fees went up, we set it at the maximum level. If anyone set it below the highest level back then, it made you seem a lower-rate provider.”

But he added he was worried students would not be satisfied with such high fees. “The student feedback we get is mixed. Many students complain they don’t see the value at £3,000.”

Universities across the country are struggling with impending cuts of up to 90 per cent, which will have to be replaced with cost increases for students.

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Dr McVicar said: “It is really a graduate tax of nine per cent. No one is saying it, but it is. Government figures say 30 per cent of students will not have to pay their loans back, but independent figures – which I trust – put the figure between 50-70 per cent.

“I do not believe this policy is sustainable. It will have to be revisited within five years.”

It is understood the university will make a decision on tuition fees this Friday.

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