UK: Universities minister hints at higher fees

Britain's universities minister has given his clearest indication yet that students could soon be forced to pay higher tuition fees, writes Jessica Shepherd. Interviewed by The Guardian last week last week, David Willetts warned that the cost of hundreds of thousands of students' degree courses was a "burden on the taxpayer that had to be tackled".

Willetts said he did not want to pre-empt the recommendations of Lord Browne's independent review into whether fees should rise from £3,225 (US$4,710) a year. But he added that students should consider university fees "more as an obligation to pay higher income tax" than a debt.

His words angered the National Union of Students (NUS), whose president-elect, Aaron Porter, said Willetts had failed to understand that graduates were leaving with debts of £22,000 on average and that this felt "very much like debt to them".

A debate over fees will cause huge divisions in the coalition government. While Willetts has strongly suggested they might rise, the Liberal Democrats have promised to scrap "unfair" tuition fees.
Full report on The Guardian site