Professor Shitij Kapur, Vice-Chancellor and President of King’s College London (KCL) supported a proposal to raise tuition fees at KCL to around £12,500. The Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson’s recent announcement that UK tuition fee caps are set to increase above £10,000 from September 2026 – a move that could bring renewed relevance to Kapur’s campaign.
Currently, four in ten universities in England currently operate in positions of financial debt. As of 2023-24, KCL reported a day-to-day operating deficit of £19 million.
Included in the government’s Post-16 Education and Kkills white paper is Phillipson’s intention to increase fees in response to universities’ funding concerns.
This proposal mirrors Professor Kapur’s statement at the 2024 Universities UK (UUK) annual conference that universities require significantly higher tuition fees to remain sustainable in a high-inflation economy.
Professor Kapur argued, “You go back to 2015/2016 and if you take that as the anchor evidence break-even amount and progress it to today, it’s between £12,000 and £13,000 depending upon your assumptions.”
At the same time, he cautioned against directly asking for £12,500. He said that it could make universities appear “out of touch” with the public.
According to the plan, universities will only be eligible for the higher cap if they meet the quality benchmarks set by the Office for Students’ Teaching Excellence Framework. However, the framework itself remains under indefinite consultation. King’s currently holds a ‘Silver’ rating.
The government attributes the rise to two main factors: the freeze on tuition fees between the 2017/18 and 2025/26 academic years, and an increasing reliance on international student fees in the UK, which has declined in recent years, partly due to new visa restrictions.
Phillipson defended the decision arguing:
“These reforms will ensure value for money, higher standards across our universities and colleges and a renewed focus on the skills our economy needs.”
Maximum student maintenance loans are also set to rise by 3.1%. However, the current maximum loan, which is just above £12,000, falls short of the real cost of living, which can cover as little as just rent in UK cities such as London.
While the proposed rise is unlikely to deter enrolment, commentators have argued that the financial burden of university is damaging the traditional university experience. The most prominent example of this is the growth in the number of ‘commuter students’ who live at home to save money.
In light of the new proposal and Kapur’s campaigning on the subject, KCL UCU’s Executive Team asserted, “We oppose Kapur’s campaign to increase tuition fees and have always opposed it.”
The KCL UCU pointed to the “unsustainable funding system for the Higher Education sector,” which has led to debt and exclusion. Rather, they emphasised a need for “government funding” to which they said Kapur should redirect his campaigning focus.
They suggested that “as a university with over a billion pounds turnover per year, King’s should be leading the way to find a sustainable funding model for the sector.”
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