Scottish university tuition fees: Is free higher education under threat?

The Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland says the current funding model for universities in Scotland is not sustainable and points to the drastic cuts planned by Edinburgh University and others.

Its polling found 48 per cent favoured the idea of charging fees based on the ability to pay, with 29 per cent opposed. But another question showed a more even split between 44 per cent saying Scottish Government should give support to all undergraduates and 43 per cent believing those who could afford it should contribute.

Edinburgh University students celebrate after graduating at the McEwan Hall. Picture: Ian Rutherford. | TSPL

So is the policy of free tuition at risk? All the political parties at Holyrood are currently committed to not charging Scottish students for higher education. And the Scottish Government says its stance will not change. "Access to higher education should be based on the ability to learn - not the ability to pay,” it insists.

Half a century of free higher education across the UK was brought to an end with the introduction of tuition fees in 1998. But after devolution in 1999 Scotland opted for a different path.

Up-front tuition fees were initially replaced by a graduate endowment, a one-off sum of £2,000 payable when students finished their degrees and ring-fenced to fund bursaries for poorer students. But critics argued the endowment was effectively just “back-end” tuition fees and the system was scrapped when the SNP came to power in 2007, making university tuition free.

Universities have relied heavily on income from international students coming to study here, but Scottish institutions are among the worst affected by a recent drop in students from overseas, hitting university finances and underlining how damaging and counter-productive the visa restrictions and anti-immigration rhetoric of the last UK government has been.

Think tank Reform Scotland has warned there is a "very real danger" of one of Scotland's universities going to the wall and argues for a rethink of the free tuition policy.

The Carnegie team says the debate should not be a binary one between “free for all” or “fees for all” and a “more nuanced” conversation is possible.

But free higher education is one of the hallmarks of devolution, an example of Scotland opting for a fairer, more equal approach funded from general taxation, and an important principle to preserve.