Lots of variables mate, and as always just an opinion. There is no doubt some universities are flourishing, others however are going the opposite way. I do wonder if some will disappear altogether and there certainly has been media speculation about that, and even the suggestion of government bailouts. The fee has been set for a long period now at a similar rate, with no allowance for inflation. Universities are as vulnerable to increased costs as others so the only real tool is cost cutting / freezing. This plays out in collective pay bargaining and strikes. Brexit has made research grants harder to come by as well and there is a threat to international student numbers, where the fees are far higher. I think I am right in saying there has been a fall in Chinese students recently, as they push for more students to stay at home, which is significant for the uk. Then there is the current tension between the home office who want to limit international students and the education secretary who is against it. If universities are limited in how many international students they can recruit some will feel the pinch keenly. During covid they didnt shut but had to very quickly deliver teaching online. This needed a lot of money to be invested by some. Demographics have been a challenge in some ways, but the future looks brighter.
Some university leaders have said they dont want to deliver a degree education that only costs the amount set. They want to deliver something much better. Maybe a freerer market would be better with universities setting their own prices. But then the loan system would need to change. If you think about a course that is lab based with hugely expensive equipment, versus a purely classroom based one it is highly unlikely the cost of delivery is the same. Bench fees make up a part of this I imagine.
One of my very personal opinions, and it could just as easily be rubbish as worthwhile, is we encourage too many students to go to university. I think this ends up in a situation where students who arent equipped going and maybe dropping out after a year, in which case the university is even worse off financially as they lose 2/3 of the revenue. Worse consequences for the student who drops out. I also think a lot of the degrees offered dont lead to an appropriate career and kids leave uni with a big loan and no degree level job. Maybe if fees were higher the vicious cycle would stop because universities dont need the same volume of students, and students are put off by big loans. All a guess of course. I am a fan of T Levels and Degree Apprenticeships and really hope these gain big momentum, I can see everyone winning in that event.
The last thing I want to see is poorer students disadvantaged. I went to uni, from a poor background, first in my entire family history actually, and was lucky enough to live in an are when I got full financial support. Now they get a govt loan to study and only pay back when they earn above a certain threshold. There are also bursaries and scholarships in some cases. An idea would be to have means testing that provided much reduced fee levels for those that were eligible with the govt topping up. A higher fee level would create space for some inventive thinking.
Bit of a ramble there, but my jumbed thoughts on the matter.
