Wesley Stevenson
speaker
1,470 appearances
54 recordings
1 series
first heard Sep 2010
last heard May 2015
Wesley Stevenson’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.
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Appearances
Well, we had a look at the claim about the average, and if you average out the fees by the number of students, as Mr Willits would prefer, the average fee actually goes up slightly to around the £8,500 mark.
Yeah, kind of.
I mean, he's right to say you should average out across students, not universities.
But unfortunately, that makes things look worse, not better, at least based on the institutions that have set their fees so far.
Yes, we don't know what the impact of those fee waivers are going to have on average fees yet either.
Now, David Willett's raised another interesting point.
As long as students actually pay back their loans, then the higher than expected fees isn't a problem for the taxpayer.
It's a problem for the students.
But the government does have to cover a shortfall in student fees because not everyone will pay back the whole of their loan.
When this was first announced last year, the government was working on the idea that universities would charge on average £7,500, as we said.
At this price, according to the IFS, the Institute for Fiscal Studies, the government would have to cover a 25% shortfall.
But with the back of an envelope average being closer to £8,500, a lot of this extra cost will fall on the government, making the shortfall around 30%.
What are your numbers, Wes?
Well, I went to the Institute for Fiscal Studies to help with this one.
They've looked at the numbers, and they say that if the average stays around this mark, the 8,500 mark, then the government is facing a bill that is about half a billion pounds bigger than they originally thought.
Yeah, no, absolutely.
I mean, if Cambridge or Imperial charge £9,000, then due to the success of their high-flying students, graduates are more likely to earn enough to pay back their fees.
But if they go to a lower-ranked university and do a rubbish course, then their career prospects may not be so good.
So the chances of them earning enough to pay back the entirety of their loan may be lower, and therefore the government will be liable for more of their fees.
OK, so the taxpayer's still on the hook.
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