Universities
The Government is implementing reforms to higher education funding based on the recommendations of Lord Browne's review, set up by Labour. The Government's proposals ensure universities are placed on a financially sustainable footing.
They are also fair. No one will have to pay anything up front. Parents will not have to contribute to tuition costs and students will not pay until after they graduate. Graduates who earn nothing will pay nothing. Graduates will not pay anything back until they are earning at least £21,000. Graduates earning over £21,000 will pay back £45 less per month than they do at the moment. The poorest quarter of graduates will pay back less in total.
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The upper limit on tuition fees will be raised to £9,000. Courses charging between £6,000 and £9,000 will be subject to new requirements on widening access to the poorest students. Tuition fees will not be paid up front by either students or their parents. For the first time, part-time students on their first degree will be eligible for student loans.
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The earnings threshold for graduate contributions will be raised from the current £15,000 to £21,000. The repayment rate will remain at 9 per cent. This means that no one earning under £21,000 will pay anything and everyone earning over £21,000 will pay back £45 less each month. The £21,000 threshold will rise annually in line with earnings.
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All outstanding debts will be written off after thirty years. More than half of graduates will have at least some of their contribution written off. The quarter of graduates with the lowest lifetime earnings will pay less under the new system than they do under the current system.
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More support for students on low incomes will be delivered through a new £150 million National Scholarships Programme and an increase in maintenance grants.
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Real rates of interest will be applied to student loans in order to ensure the system is fair and affordable. Graduates earning less than £21,000 will be protected as under the present system, but interest rates will gradually rise to a maximum of RPI + 3 per cent for those earning £41,000 or more. This will provide extra revenue from better-off graduates, ensuring other aspects of the new system, such as raising the earnings threshold for repayment to £21,000, are affordable for the taxpayer.
For more, visit www.factsonfees.com.
Skills
The Government has published a National Skills Strategy, setting out measures to improve skills, training and apprenticeships. We are:
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Providing funding for 75,000 additional adult apprenticeships;
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Restoring emphasis on advanced apprenticeships.
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Investing in skills in the sectors on which future growth and jobs depend.
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Introducing skills accounts to give learners better information and more choice.
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Setting colleges free from direct state control and abolishing a series of skills quangos.