Students would 'bear the brunt' of proposed tuition fee rises

Ben Friel, president of the NUS-USI, says education is currently seen as "a burden to the budget"

Students in Northern Ireland would "bear the brunt" of a rise in tuition fees of over £1,000, called for by university leaders.

That is according to Ben Friel, the president of the National Union of Students and Union of Students in Ireland (NUS-USI).

Leaders of Northern Ireland's five universities and university colleges have called for student tuition fees to rise by more than £1,000 a year.

They have written to the leaders of the five main political parties asking for tuition fees to rise to £5,831 a year from the current £4,750.

The joint letter is signed by the heads of Queen's University Belfast (QUB), Ulster University (UU) and the Open University in Ireland (OU).

It has been supported by a separate letter from the principals of St Mary's University College and Stranmillis University College.

Why do the universities want a rise in tuition fees?

The leaders' letter said that about a third of young people leave Northern Ireland to study elsewhere "due to the continued Northern Ireland Executive policy on funding".

The letter said there has been a "real-terms loss caused by a legacy of sub-inflationary uplifts" in funding for higher education.

"Applying an inflation increase from a 2021 baseline alone, which part-recovers the hitherto unallocated inflationary uplifts to the current Northern Ireland fee, would see an inflation-corrected fee of £5,831," the letter stated.

It added that the pressure was "compounded by the reduction in international student numbers and associated income".

"Without urgent intervention, the region's skills pipeline, research capacity, and innovation-led growth are at serious risk-undermining productivity and long-term economic recovery," the letter said.

In an accompanying statement to BBC News NI, the leaders urged the Executive "to acknowledge that tuition fees have not kept pace with inflation, and to rectify this position."

What do students pay in tuition fees elsewhere in the UK and Ireland?

The letter also pointed out that fees in Northern Ireland are lower than those in England and Wales, where students currently pay £9,250. This will go up to £9,535 in the next academic year.

However, students in the Republic of Ireland pay a maximum of €2,000 (£1,695) a year in fees, while Scottish students who remain in Scotland to study do not pay tuition fees.

In Northern Ireland tuition fees have risen from £3,685 a decade ago to £4,750 in 2024/25.

The vast majority of students take out a loan to cover their annual tuition fees and living costs, which they then pay back when they begin working after graduation.

What do students leaders think?

Mr Friel, of the NUS-USI, said the rise in fees called for by the universities meant "asking students to bear the brunt of a broken system".

"It's the fundamental principle of how we fund education and treat it as a country," he told BBC News NI.

"Education is seen as a burden to the budget at the moment, but it needs to be seen as an investment for our future and our young people."

Mr Friel said that students were already facing financial pressures, and skipping meals.

"Nearly one in five students are using a foodbank," he said.

"We can't be putting more burden on students at a time like this."

The NUS-USI said students are facing financial pressures

He said he empathised with some of the universities' concerns about funding.

"They want and need to raise revenues and the only way they have to do that at the minute is off the back of students," he said.

"We can't keep throwing money at a broken system, we're wasting students money, we're wasting public money."

Mr Friel said that any rise in tuition fees could deter students from lower-income backgrounds, especially, from going to university.

He said that while the end of fees should be a "long-term" goal, he was a "realist".

"I know it's not going to happen in the next two, three, four years," he said.

"Long-term I think we should always be aiming for that."

What happens now?

The university letter has gone to the leaders of Sinn Féin, the DUP, UUP, SDLP and Alliance Party.

A tuition fee rise of the amount wanted by the universities would have to be approved by the Stormont Executive.

Higher education is the responsibility of Economy Minister Caoimhe Archibald.

The university letter has received support from a number of business leaders, who said "a tipping point" had been reached.

"We believe that it is time for the funding model to be refreshed, so that it continues to reflect Northern Ireland's distinctive needs, protects access for local students, and enhances the region's economic attractiveness to both domestic and global investment," their statement said.