I was actually incredibly lucky to go to school in the UK when I did. I went to a private high school and had my tuition fully paid for by the government for four years. The assisted places scheme was scrapped a year after I started studying there but any students already under the scheme could finish their education free of charge. When I went to university in 2005, the tuition fees were 1,500 GBP/year. My wife was supporting me on her nurse’s salary and so those fees were waived too. The fees have now risen to 9,000 per year, of which a maximum of 3,500 GBP can be waived. At the time of announcing the fee rises, the government assured the people that this would not deter would-be students as only top universities would charge the full 9,000 and the grant for lower income students would be increased. In 2007 the BBC claimed that [this didn’t affect numbers][1], but of course [that wasn’t true][2]. I know I would have had to think a lot more carefully about my options if I were looking at 5,500 GBP higher fees per year, especially as an NHS salary is lower in real terms than it was in 2005.
