SNP's free tuition policy receives fresh blow as universities warn of 'unsustainable' funding position

The UK Government’s decision to increase university tuition fees for students south of the Border to £9,535 a year from 2025/26 onwards has prompted Scotland’s universities to voice concern about a growing funding gap.

The Scottish Government’s policy of providing ‘free tuition’ – paid for by the government – means universities here receive considerably less funding per student. According to calculations by the Institute for Fiscal Studies, the resources available for Scottish undergraduates are around 21 per cent lower than those for an English university teaching an English student.

Umbrella body Universities Scotland has now warned that “a decade-long near freeze in funding undergraduate education for home students” had created “funding models that are unsustainable” in both England and Scotland, so the tuition fee increase would be welcomed.

It added: “We are clear of the need for the Scottish Government to address our own funding challenge – which gets more acute every year. Without swift intervention from the Scottish Government, [the UK Government] announcement will increase the funding gulf between undergraduate education for Scottish students and their peers in England.”

Worldwide reputation

That gulf means Scottish universities are at a significant financial disadvantage when competing to attract students, posing a threat to institutions that have built up a worldwide reputation for the quality of their education.

The problem can be broken down into three parts: the Scottish Government decided that tuition fees should be free to Scottish students, that ministers should set the rate paid by the government for their education, and then allowed the sum to be significantly eroded by inflation.

The SNP makes great political capital out of its free tuition policy. However, the fact is that if the government cannot afford to provide sufficient funding, Scotland’s universities will have to cut their cloth accordingly and the standard of education provided will decline.

As we have said before, such universal benefits are fine, but only if they are affordable. There is no point having free access to a service that is falling apart for lack of funds. If Scotland is not careful, universities’ ‘unsustainable’ funding position could develop into a full-blown NHS-style crisis.