Bridget Phillipson, Minister for the Department of Education, has announced the increase of undergraduate tuition fees from £9,250 to £9,535 from August 2025. This will impact any undergraduate starting or continuing study in the 2025/26 academic year.

We know this has been a stressful announcement for a lot of our students, so we wanted to break down what this actually means for Hallam.

The threshold for repayment of undergraduate tuition fees will stay fixed at salaries above £25,000, and at 9% of income above that rate. This means you will continue to pay back the fees at the same rate, just that the sum amount you have to pay back has slightly increased, if you are above the salary threshold. You will still pay back for 40 years, and so it will continue to be the case for a lot of students that the full amount is never paid back.

So, whilst an increase in tuition fees sounds daunting, it will not change anything when it comes to repayment amounts, and University will remain free at the point of entry.

There hasn't been an increase in tuition fees since 2017, which means universities have had to do more with less money as day-to-day costs have risen. The increase in tuition fees will cover the new national insurance costs announced in the Government budget. We think it's important that universities support students, which they do by investing their spend into students, so we're glad this increase will cover the increased national insurance costs, to allow our spend per student to continue.

There will also be a 3.1% increase in maximum maintenance loan. Whilst we welcome this increase, we're disappointed by the lack of movement on maintenance grants or change in thresholds when measuring household income. For students to be able to afford university, and to have a good quality of life whilst attending, we need an increase in maintenance loans across the board to account for the cost-of-living crisis, and we need maintenance grants to support students from lower income backgrounds. We will continue to push for this.

If you would like to learn more about the announcements, we recommend the following websites:

• Student fees and maintenance loan increase: what you need to know - The Education Hub (blog.gov.uk)
• What England's tuition fee rise means for student and university finances (ft.com)

Worried and want to access support or advice?

• Find out more about student funding
• Access support services
• Contact our Advice Centre