ABSTRACT
Free public higher education ended in England in 1997. This had been anticipated earlier in the decade by the freezing of student maintenance grants and the introduction of student loans. Then the new Labour government accepted the widely anticipated and bipartisan recommendation of the Dearing (1997) report on higher education to introduce annual undergraduate student fees of £1,000 a year rising with infl ation. Together with the unexpected scrapping of maintenance grants, this saddled students with debts estimated to vary by course and institution from £10,000 to £20,000. In a concession to widespread opposition, reduced grants were restored when in 2006 New Labour broke its 2005 electoral promise not to raise fees further by allowing them to rise to a maximum currently “capped” at £3,000 a year. In another concession, this sum is no longer paid up-front but is repayable after graduation and after the graduate receives a salary over a minimum income threshold.
