Tuition fees: time to separate the facts from the politics

By Wes Streeting / @wesstreeting

Writing for the Guardian two months ago, I warned that “confusion around the new [tuition fees and student finance] arrangements presents a real risk that students may be deterred in the absence of the facts on fees”. Today, alongside Martin Lewis of moneysavingexpert.com fame, I am proud to be launching a major campaign – independent of government – to tackle the myths and misconceptions surrounding the true costs of higher education.

There can be no doubt that the trebling of tuition fees to £9,000 is having a major impact on the decisions taken by potential students and their families. Earlier this week, Universities UK – the body representing university vice chancellors – published a startling poll showing that more than half of parents felt that they had been given insufficient information about the new student finance arrangements.

On Tuesday evening, I was talking to newly qualified teachers on the Teach First programme, all of whom were concerned about what kind of advice they should be giving to young people thinking about their post-16 options. I know from my own work leading the Helena Kennedy Foundation, which supports some of the most disadvantaged students in Britain’s colleges to access higher education, that the prospect of fees at £9,000 is making so many students seriously rethink their ambitions.

Amidst the huge political controversy surrounding the merits or otherwise of the new student finance system, the government has been rendered incapable of getting a clear, unbiased message across. Every utterance from ministers is greeted with cynicism and criticism. Even details about some of the more important initiatives from BIS, like the government’s student finance website, are lost in the political melee.

That’s why Martin and I, backed by NUS, universities, UCAS and student money advisors, are taking matters into our own hands. Our new, snappily named, Independent Taskforce on Student Finance Information, will lay out clear, unbiased information telling students, families, teachers and advisors everything they need to know about the new system. We’ll be working with a range of partners to get the information across using the best that the web, best-of-breed apps, video print, speakers, ambassadors and every other way we can think of to allow people to make informed decisions about higher education.

We are glad to have the blessing of ministers as we begin our work, but we will not be in the business of selling fees to a sceptical public. Martin and I are both critics of this government’s policy and would have chosen different ways to fund our universities. But from 2012, this system will be a reality. All of us, supporters and critics alike, have a responsibility to ensure the facts are understood.

If students are deterred – as I expect many will be – by the realities of the new system, the government will need to think again and Labour will need to think about the alternative it will offer at the next election. But the tragedy of students, particularly from poorer backgrounds, being deterred because of myths and misconceptions is one that can be easily avoided if we all play our part.

Martin Lewis has already published 20 key facts about the new system on his website at moneysavingexpert.com. This is just the start. The political row will continue – and it should. People have a right to be angry and concerned about this government’s higher education policy. But as hundreds of thousands of students start thinking about their options in 2012 our taskforce will separate the facts from the politics. It’s the right thing to do.

Wes Streeting is Chief Executive of the Helena Kennedy Foundation, a Labour councillor, former NUS president and deputy head of the new Independent Taskforce on Student Finance Information