Scholarship News

London, England, United Kingdom (AHN) – Britain is set to release a review of university tuition initiated by Lord Edmund John Philip Browne, the former chief executive of British Petroleum.

Browne was appointed in June 2010 by the coalition government to be the lead non-executive director in charge of recruiting business leader to reformed departmental boards.

Under the proposed reforms, all taxpayer funding will be withdrawn from most university degrees. That means students would have to borrow thousands as cost of courses are expected to double.

The measures would translate into requiring universities to charge a minimum of $10,500 (7,000 pounds) a year to make up for the loss of national government funding for education. The cost of some high-end degrees is expected to soar to $18,000 (12,000 pounds) a year.

Graduates who have benefited from public funding of their education would have to pay back more in fees and interests. Ironically, those earning from $52,000 to $90,000 (35,000 to 60,000 pounds) a year would likely pay more than those earning over $150,000 (100,000 pounds) a year.

That is based on estimates made by the Institute for Fiscal Studies and the National Union of Students. On an assumption of a 30-year repayment period, those in the middle-income range would end up paying $56,700 (37,800 pounds), while those in the higher-income bracket of $150,000 would just pay $47,773.50 (31,849 pounds) if they repay their loans in four years.

The new system is set to be put in place in 2012.

The proposal does not sit well with Liberal Democrat backbenchers, who plan to vote against the coalition government, according to the NUS because of the party’s stand against any form of tuition fee hikes.

Business Secretary Vince Cable, who is a LibDem, was scheduled to meet with the party’s MPs Monday night to convince them to turn around by asking Browne to make the variable interest rate on student loans linked to a graduate’s income.

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