No additional payments if student fees were increased, says universities

The leaders of Northern Ireland’s five universities and university colleges have previously called for tuition fees to rise by more than £1,000 a year.

In 2025, they wrote to the leaders of the five main parties asking for tuition fees to rise to almost £6,000 a year.

Economy Minister Caoimhe Archibald subsequently ruled out increasing tuition fees above the usual level of inflation.

In their submission to the Treasury Committee both QUB and UU raised concerns about the sustainability of university finances.

Ulster University has recently announced plans to cut up to 450 jobs.

In their submission to MPs, UU said that “Northern Ireland’s universities are fundamental to the region’s economy and societal fabric,” but were facing a “funding crisis”.

“The current funding model for higher education in Northern Ireland is no longer fit for purpose,” the university said.

It said there was a “student debt myth,” and that modelling by the university’s economic policy centre suggested that middle-earning graduates and below would face “no additional payments if student fees were increased”.

“The public debate tends to focus on total hypothetical debt accrued, as opposed to what students actually end up repaying,” the university said.

“This skews the debate in unhelpful and unrealistic manner, creating impediments to constructive HE (higher education) reform.”

The university’s submission also said that focusing the debate on tuition fees around student debt was “often misleading and inflated” compared to the “actual repayment reality, which for many graduates is significantly lower”.

They also quoted the financial expert Martin Lewis, who has highlighted that what students earn rather than what they borrow determines what they pay back each year.