A DEGREE OF SECRECY

A report released today detailed the expected shortfall of the government's tuition fee funding budget. The Public Accounts Committee says that more universities are planning to charge students the top-rate fees of £9,000 than was originally expected. It goes on to forecast the consequences of such developments, suggesting that the government will be hit with a bill far higher than they had originally planned.

Part of the difficulties for the government comes from the fact that they have to pay the money upfront to provide students the loan. With potentially more students requiring a larger down payment on their education, and with true numbers remaining unknown until the beginning of the new academic year, there is little that can be done to find out exactly how big the deficit will be in advance.

The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills says the government will not know the full cost until students have enrolled and received their loans. There are still some universities yet to declare what they intend to charge students in 2012-13.

With these uncertainties and potentially ballooning financial outgoings, it is highly suspected that the government will have to do something drastic to plug the gap. For a sector that has already received a harsh round of funding cuts recently, another might begin to crumble it significantly.

The chair of the committe, MP Margaret Hodge, has spoken this morning of her worries for the implications for students. She predicts a dark scenario which could either see budgets being slashed again or a cap being put on the number of student places.

More alarmingly, she detailed the current practice to disguise from students the financial security of institutions. At present, a struggling university is protected from its bank balance being made public by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE). If the practice of doing so continues into the following few years then the implications for individual students appears nasty.

Should students be warned of impending doom before they choose into which university they place their education, trust, and - perhaps more crucially now than ever - money? Or would alerting students as to which universities are facing difficulties simply tie the noose and create a self-fulfilling prophecy as they watch applications dry up from underneath them?

Tricky questions for tricky times.