Next government faces hard choices on English universities, say experts

Ministers left with unpalatable options of raising tuition fees, making grants or capping student numbers, says IFS

The next government faces unpalatable" choices between raising tuition fees, making direct grants or capping student numbers to rescue universities in England from their financial black hole, the Institute for Fiscal Studies has warned.

The thinktank said universities that relied on teaching UK students for the bulk of their income were most vulnerable, calculating that undergraduate tuition fees would now be 12,000 if they had kept pace with inflation, rather than the 9,250 rate frozen since 2016.