Welsh university tuition fee cap to increase to £9,250

University tuition fees in Wales are set to rise to £9,250 a year this autumn – the same amount charged to domestic students by universities in other parts of the UK.

The lifting of the cap on annual undergraduate fees from £9,000 was announced by Wales’ education minister, Jeremy Miles, who conceded students “may be disappointed” by the increased charges.

“We have resisted calls to raise the tuition fee cap in the past, but sustained inflationary pressure on higher education providers in Wales means an increase is now unavoidable,” said Mr Miles in a statement published on 6 February.

The tuition fee loan for students resident in Wales would also increase by £250 to ensure no one would need to pay the tuition fee up front, he added.

The move to raise tuition fees follows complaints from Welsh universities that the £9,000 fee level, allied with recent cuts in central funding, meant they lost money on every British undergraduate they educated. In December 2022, Cardiff University’s vice-chancellor at the time, Colin Riordan, told Times Higher Education that his university had hit a “tipping point” on funding and that teaching deficits were only being covered by the higher fees received from international students.

While the latest decision will bring tuition fees charged by Welsh universities in line with other parts of the UK, Welsh students will continue to enjoy more generous grant and loan support than English ones. At present, Welsh students receive income-contingent grants of up to £10,124 a year and a minimum of £1,000, plus a further £4,511 in loans to cover living costs, in addition to tuition fee loans, whereas English students receive only maintenance loans of up to £13,022.

Maintenance support for eligible students in Wales will rise by 3.8 per cent in 2024-25 and other grants and allowances would also be increased, said Mr Miles.

However, he confirmed that grants for postgraduate master’s students would “now be replaced fully by repayable student loans” for new students in 2024-25.

“However, the Welsh government will once again increase the maximum value of support available to new master’s students in the 2024-25 academic year in line with a measure of inflation,” he said, adding that the “available loan is significantly more generous than that provided in England”.

Loans available to support doctoral study would also increase by this amount, he added.

“These changes balance the day-to-day needs of students from Wales with our aim to ensure that all who may benefit from a higher education can do so, and will ensure that support remains affordable in the very difficult financial situation which the Welsh government faces,” said Mr Miles.

jack.grove@timeshighereducation.com