For many students in the UK today, deciding whether or not to go to university can be as much about affordability as it is about ambition and aspiration.

In times gone by, students in the UK could apply to a university or college safe in the knowledge that, even if they came from a low income family, their tuition fees and some of their living(or maintenance) costs would be covered by a local authority grant. A university education was, in a financial sense, open to all and the number of students attending university grew year on year.

Sadly, it seems, those days are long gone. The turning point came in 1998, when the Labour Government introduced tuition fees of ￡1,000 a year and, instead of giving students a maintenance grant, asked them to cover their own living expenses with a repayable student loan. Only students on the lowest incomes were entitled to a grant.

The flood gates had been opened. As time passed, the ceiling on tuition fees rose, and although applicants from Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales still qualified for varying levels of subsidy, by 2009/10 students in England often found themselves facing tuition fees in excess of ￡3,000 a year.

But the biggest change was still to come. In 2011 the Government announced that, from 2012, universities could charge fees of up to ￡9,000 a year. Although the Government sweetened the pill by stating that postgraduates did not have to begin repaying their student loans until they were earning more than ￡21,000 a year, the news created outrage. Many students argued that it was unfair that students should have to begin their work life saddled with huge debt, while others complained that the changes would bring back a class divide to university education. These views were reflected in the number of students applying for a university place, which by January 2012 fell by more than 22,000. The Universities Minister, David Willetts, stood by the decision to increase tuition fees, saying that they would not “put universities’ finance on a sustainable footing” and facilitate “a stronger focus on high quality teaching.”

對(duì)于今天英國(guó)的許多學(xué)生來(lái)說(shuō)，決定是不是去上大學(xué)已經(jīng)不僅僅關(guān)乎抱負(fù)與渴望，能不能上得起也是他們做出決定的重要因素。

過(guò)去，英國(guó)的學(xué)生可以申請(qǐng)大學(xué)，并且確信即使自己來(lái)自低收入家庭，學(xué)費(fèi)和一部分生活費(fèi)也可以由當(dāng)?shù)氐恼块T撥款發(fā)放津貼解決。大學(xué)教育，從學(xué)費(fèi)角度而言是對(duì)所有學(xué)生開(kāi)放的，因此踏入大學(xué)校門的學(xué)生也逐年增多。

遺憾的是，那些日子一去不復(fù)返了。轉(zhuǎn)折點(diǎn)發(fā)生在1998年，工黨政府開(kāi)始推行每年需繳1,000英鎊大學(xué)學(xué)費(fèi)的政策，并且不再向?qū)W生發(fā)放生活津貼，而是讓他們通過(guò)需要償還的學(xué)生貸款來(lái)解決生活費(fèi)問(wèn)題。只有來(lái)自最低收入家庭的學(xué)生才有資格得到補(bǔ)助。

這類政策一旦推行就會(huì)愈演愈烈。隨著時(shí)間的推移，學(xué)費(fèi)的上限也水漲船高，盡管來(lái)自蘇格蘭、北愛(ài)爾蘭和威爾士的一些學(xué)生仍然夠資格申請(qǐng)不同程度的補(bǔ)貼，但到了2009/10年度，英格蘭的學(xué)生通常都要面臨每年超過(guò)3,000英鎊的學(xué)費(fèi)支出。

但是更大的巨變還沒(méi)有到來(lái)。到了2011年，政府宣布從2012年起，允許大學(xué)收取高至9,000英鎊/年的學(xué)費(fèi)。盡管政府為這一做法找的說(shuō)辭是研究生可以在每年收入21,000英鎊以前，不必償還學(xué)生貸款，但這個(gè)消息還是觸發(fā)了眾怒。一些學(xué)生認(rèn)為這種政策很不公平，會(huì)令他們剛剛開(kāi)始工作就背上沉重的債務(wù)負(fù)擔(dān)，還有學(xué)生認(rèn)為這一政策會(huì)在加劇大學(xué)期間學(xué)生間的階級(jí)分化現(xiàn)象。這些觀點(diǎn)也在大學(xué)申請(qǐng)人數(shù)上反映了出來(lái)，到2012年1月，英國(guó)申請(qǐng)大學(xué)的人數(shù)下降了22,000人。英國(guó)高等教育大臣大衛(wèi)?威列茨支持政府提高學(xué)費(fèi)的決定，并稱他們不會(huì)“把大學(xué)財(cái)政建立在學(xué)生可以付得起的基礎(chǔ)上”，而是要全力促進(jìn)大學(xué)“對(duì)于教學(xué)質(zhì)量的關(guān)注”。