Do you think the new fee system in 2012 will force some universities to close?

and if so which uni's do you think are at risk.

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I think the whole nation, apart from the faggots that are Nick Clegg and David Cameron, are in agreement that £9,000 tuition fees are going to totally ruin higher education in the UK.

Yeah I wouldn't be surprised to see some universities go bust. I predict the ex-polys will go bust and a lot of universities will go private too.

The sad thing is, this fees system will never be reversed. It's here forever.

Reply 2

Phebec

Yes thankfully, hopefully we can purge the majority of the ex-polys (some are decent). We should concentrate on having 20 or so world competitive unis and then 20 or so other unis for those a bit on the slow side.

Reply 3

Gwalchgwyn

How would increasing profits cause a university to close/go bust? Am i missing something here?

Reply 4

NS17

Original post by Gwalchgwyn

How would increasing profits cause a university to close/go bust? Am i missing something here?

Basically, the OP is suggesting that some Universities may close as they won't be able to draw in enough undergraduates despite the increased fees.
I don't see any Universities closing in the next couple of years, however.

(edited 13 years ago)

Reply 5

ch0llima

Original post by Gwalchgwyn

How would increasing profits cause a university to close/go bust? Am i missing something here?

I think it's more to do with the fact that spiralling costs will put people off going, and the universities will receive less tuition fee revenue. This, of course, is based on the notion that most people don't know that you don't pay up front.

I personally don't see any universities shutting up shop any time soon and there are plenty of universities running on financial fumes as it is, but act as if nothing is happening. I don't foresee any major changes on that front.

Reply 6

mintmocha

Original post by Gwalchgwyn

How would increasing profits cause a university to close/go bust? Am i missing something here?

Maybe OP is thinking along the lines of those people who would have applied to the universities that are at risk of closing down may feel that a degree there is not worth it and may chose other routes eg. apprenticeships and such or may travel to other countries of the EU to study there so I guess fewer applicants overall for the university.
SO it could be that profits don't increase overall, could fall or could remain stable.
Further, there's also the risk that since universities were used to the subsidies model that they might not have effective measures in place to detect liquidity problems.

Reply 7

NS17

Original post by Phebec

The UK barely has 5 World Competitive (top 50) universities right now, how do you plan on bumping up that number? "Purge the ex-polys"? Have you even considered the effect that closing half the country's Universities will have on Britain?

The job losses alone would be tremendous, an exodus of professors and researchers would leave Britain to work where there are more research and teaching posts, further impacting on Britain's ability to compete at the world scale and all together more seriously, have a damaging effect on our economy which isn't exactly healthy right now.

Your opinion is so ill-informed it's insulting to all us Ex-poly students with our sub standard educations.

(edited 13 years ago)

Reply 8

nulli tertius

Original post by ch0llima

I personally don't see any universities shutting up shop any time soon and there are plenty of universities running on financial fumes as it is, but act as if nothing is happening. I don't foresee any major changes on that front.

Cumbria lost almost £9M last year down from £11.4M the year before. Its balance sheet (which doesn't include close down costs such as redundancy payments) shows a net worth of £18.5M. It can afford less than two years of losses at this rate before running out of assets. Whether it would run out of cash sooner, who knows?

Reply 9

A.galloway

Original post by Gwalchgwyn

How would increasing profits cause a university to close/go bust? Am i missing something here?

At the same time they are allowing the tuition fee increase they are also cutting the university education budget. This is why the tuition fee increase is occurring as the government expect the increase in fees to counter-act the cuts. However if some universities cannot attract enough graduates willing to pay the bare minimum to keep the institution afloat then they will be forced to close. Also universities are non-profit institutions just-so-you-know.

Reply 10

A.galloway

Original post by NS17

That is assuming that you even understand it.

Reply 11

NS17

Original post by A.galloway

That is assuming that you even understand it.

As fun as it must be to patronize me, I understand perfectly well that closing half the universities in the UK would cause significant negative backlash.

If you didn't pick up on that when reading the post I was referring to then maybe you should read it again.

Reply 12

jess.

After the initial outrage of "what?! £9000!" I think a lot of potential applicants will calm down and realise that they won't be paying these fees up front. It also has to be remembered that not all universities will be charging the full amount.

Universities are already so oversubscribed that I don't think the rise in tuition fees will cause a significant enough fall in applications to make them lose profit. And for those universities that aren't oversubscribed, well hopefully they'll have enough sense not to increase their tuition fees by too much and take advantage of the fact that this may attract those students who don't want to pay the full £6000/£9000 that other universities will be charging.

For the moment I don't see the tuition fees rise having any immediate impact, but perhaps we'll have to give it a couple of years to play out and see what happens after that.

Reply 13

Ludwig Wittgenstein

In a word, yes. This won't happen for a few years. When it does though, people will take their money and get out the UK economy leaving us all to rot in an uneducated, psuedo fuedal wasteland of Lord and peasant-esque relations. Long live the coalition.

Reply 14

Ludwig Wittgenstein

Original post by jess.

Leeds Met for £9000 a year. Would ya? :redface:

Reply 15

Sorani

I think people need to realise that potential students are aware that they don't pay fees up front, that's not what puts them off, it's being saddled with such an insane amount of debt by the age of potentially only 21-22. Just because you may not consider it 'real' debt, doesn't mean it's not scary for people.

Reply 16

Adequate

The system for repayment looks fairer than it is now, it's just that we'll be paying 3 times as much.

Reply 17

pinkpont

It won't change a thing. If someone is too stupid to realise that in real terms, repaying student loans where the tuition fees are £3000 or £9000 a year are essentially the same, then they probably shouldn't be going to University. Universities are being incredibly hypocritical - foreign students, for example, pay even more than the £9000 a year that we'll have to pay, and they don't get the benefit of a very favourable loan. Yet, why do I not see mass protests on their behalf?

Reply 18

jess.

Original post by Ludwig Wittgenstein

Leeds Met for £9000 a year. Would ya? :redface:

To be a pedant, Leeds Met announced they will be charging £8500 from 2012, not £9000.

Personally no I didn't consider applying to Leeds Met, my primary reason being it doesn't offer my course. However, according to TSR university guide statistics, it currently has 5 applicants per place. It isn't currently having problems attracting enough students. Whilst it may experience a drop in applications, I don't believe it will drop enough that they won't be able to fill their places.

I think perhaps certain courses at universities may suffer as students decide perhaps they aren't worth the higher cost, but overall I don't think Leeds met will have a problem charging at this level.

Reply 19

River85

Original post by Gwalchgwyn

How would increasing profits cause a university to close/go bust? Am i missing something here?

Ask yourself why universities are required to increase fees. Also, that if too many universities charge 9k, the university will possibly but back funding even more with teaching intensive universities particularly vulnerable.

Original post by nulli tertius

I certainly won't be surprised to see Cumbria on its way out. Its Ambleside campus is already closed and, from what I've noticed in the regional media (and from those who studied there) it cannot afford to maintain its accomodation at another campus. The Penrith campus, I think. It is certainly experiencing some troublesome lossess.

Original post by NS17

The UK barely has 5 World Competitive (top 50) universities right now.