Government changes tack over fees

The government had shifted its position on top-up fees significantly in favour of a system of post-university payments by graduates, Charles Clarke, the education secretary, said today.

Ministers were now debating whether to go for a graduate tax or a loans system, he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

"We have shifted quite significantly, and the prime minister made this clear last week, towards the amount that the individual pays being raised after their university course rather than being paid up-front, and I think that shift has taken place," said Mr Clarke. "Now, whether you do that through a deferred loans system to a graduate tax or other things is a matter we are still discussing. But I think we have shifted towards a post-university payment rather than a pre-university payment."

Tony Blair last week told the House of Commons that no one would be required to pay thousands of pounds up-front in university fees. But as Mr Clarke acknowledged to members of the Commons education select committee yesterday, there would be a delay of up to 17 years before a graduate tax raised the money the universities needed. In the intervening period they could face a shortfall of up to ?1bn, he said.

Mr Clarke told MPs: "One of the biggest issues I have to address between now and January is how to deal with that hole."

The education secretary is due to publish a white paper on student funding in January, setting out the favoured options for action on a problem that has been batted around between ministers and Whitehall departments for more than a year since Mr Blair identified student loans as an election doorstep issue.

He will also publish the government's higher education spending plans for the next three years. Universities are hoping for a ?1.5bn increase, which the lecturers' unions say would pave the way for a long-term pay deal and allow academic salaries to catch up some of the ground they have lost to comparable professions.