Bid to bill students for pounds 20,000

Plans which would leave students more than pounds 20,000 in debt when they finished university would prevent working-class teenagers from doing degrees, unions claimed last night.

The university vice-chancellors, who are debating the proposal at their annual meeting in Sheffield this week, were also accused of "kite-flying" in an attempt to win more money for higher education.

Their proposed submission to Sir Ron Dearing's review of higher education says students should have to take out loans for the whole cost of their maintenance - pounds 4,475 per year - plus a third of their tuition - about pounds 2,400 per year.

The plan is unlikely to be accepted by the review, however. All three political parties look likely to conclude that while students should pay for their own living costs, their education should be free.

The Committee of Vice-Chancellors and Principals has argued for the past three years for a system similar to the one which exists in Australia, where students pay back part of their tuition fees.

They want the money to be borrowed from the banks at slightly above the base lending rate, and paid back through the national insurance system.

Rodney Bickerstaffe, general secretary of the public service union Unison, said the principle of free tuition ensured that the brightest young people could be educated regardless of their backgrounds.

"This is education for the rich and the devil take the rest. It will add to the danger of Britain becoming a low-skill, low-wage economy," he said.

"If we want a successful, well-trained workforce to take us into the next millennium, the country cannot afford to abandon this principle."

David Triesman, general secretary of the Association of University Teachers, said his members accepted that the tax-payer could no longer afford to fund the expanded higher education system.

A 3 per cent tax on limited companies' profits could raise up to pounds 4bn per year, he said. The vice-chancellors' plans would raise up to pounds 6bn.

"I think the vice-chancellors are flying a kite, and that this is likely to scare everybody witless. I suspect they can't be 100 per cent serious," he said.

A Labour spokesman said it did not propose asking students to contribute towards the cost of fees. "Once you start doing that, where do you draw the line? The danger is that you would end up with students paying all their fees," he said.