Fee waiver for successful A-level appellants

Tuition fees will be waived for a further small group of students this year, ministers have confirmed. The waiver will apply to any student who failed to get into university in 1997, the last year of free tuition, but who has secured a place in 1998 after successfully appealing against their A-level grades.

In a letter to Dame Elizabeth Anson, chair of the Independent Appeals Authority for School Examinations, higher education minister Tessa Blackstone said: "We have concluded that it would indeed be inequitable to treat students in this particular category as 1998 entrants." The number of students affected will be "only a handful" of the hundreds who have their appeals upheld, according to the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority.