Since 1999, most students on higher education courses have been required to make an annual financial contribution to the cost of their course.

The tuition fee cap was increased to £9,000 for new entrants from 2012/13. Tuition Fee Loans are available to cover these costs for both full and part-time students.

The government regulator - the Office for Fair Access (Offa) - has to approve access agreements for universities that want to charge fees of over £6,000. They have estimated that the average headline fee for new students in 2013 was £8,385.

According to government data, 129 of the 172 institutions (75%) in 2015 had a maximum headline (pre-waiver) annual tuition fee of £9,000. The majority of institutions with lower maximum fees were further education colleges and only three universities had maximum fees below £9,000. 44 (25%) institutions had an average headline fee of £9,000 and hence planned to charge the maximum for all their courses.

The Labour Party has a proposal to cut maximum tuition fees to £6,000 per year if they are in power after the 2015 General Election

Reading

BBC news - Tuition fees - should they go higher or lower? http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-30080662

BBC news - Why lowering tuition fees is more complicated than you think - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-30922032

BBC news - Did £9,000 fees cut the number of applications? (price elasticity of demand) - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-30684462