EU fees change could cost English universities £7 million a year

Perhaps universities should band together and take matters into their own hands, rather than sit around waiting for what the government might do. Perhaps set up their own student loan fund for those students unable to access public funds? It's unlikely a single university could do that, but by working together the sector as a whole could manage it. It is obvious that the UK government is not interested in education at any level, so we need to make our own arrangements in the face of their indifference to our needs.

The one thing that most commentators seem to miss is that EU students are currently eligible to take out loans (repayment of which is a different matter...). Under any new regime those students would not have access to loans and thus the ability to raise £45,000 plus living costs without a loan will prevent a lot of EU students from coming to the UK (even if they had an interest in it)

Raising 3 year worth of international fees plus visa fees plus living costs upfront and with no access to loans is a hard task, preventing many international students from accessing UK HE. But is it not remarkable how little was it spoken about it when only it concerned only non-EU students? Why do we care less about a student from China, Thailand or Russia than a fellow student from Italy, France or Poland? Can the reasons be traced back to UK colonial history, or to more recent `hostile environment' policies?

One factor often omitted is that the change in fees would be reciprocal. In many EU countries, HE fees are much lower than UK fees and UK students until now can benefit from this. In recent years several mainland-Europe universities have also provided courses in English, attracting more students as a result. Living costs can also be substantially lower, depending on where the student studies, of course. With the increase in EU student fees, the UK pretty much becomes one of the most expensive European country to study in, especially undergraduate degrees. In essence, international students will still come to the UK, but EU students are more likely to 'shop around' and look for better options, also considering that they will still have access to 27 countries without any need for a sponsor or a Visa. There are many top world ranking institutions on the continent and several are also substantially cheaper that even a low ranking UK university. It really is not rocket science...