Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the increase in university tuition fees on university enrolment.

An Equality Impact Assessment of changes to tuition fees and student support for the 2025/26 academic year was published on GOV.UK on 20 January when the Higher Education (Fee Limits and Fee Limit Condition) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2025 were laid before Parliament. These regulations increase maximum tuition fee limits in 2025/26 by 3.1%, based on forecast inflation using the RPI All Items Excl Mortgage Interest (RPIX) inflation index.

The government expects that a 3.1% increase in maximum tuition fees, which will be accompanied by a similar increase in fee loans in 2025/26 for full-time, full-time accelerated and part-time undergraduate courses, will have a broadly neutral impact as the total level of debt for students who qualify for up-front tuition fee loans should remain unchanged in real terms.

The government also considers that the increase in maximum tuition fees will not significantly alter participation decisions for most students as the value of tuition fees will remain unchanged in real terms.

The government plans to lay further regulations in February increasing maximum fee loans for 2025/26 by 3.1%.