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Britain’s new government is trying to rein in spending, and the cuts are expected to be painful. The World’s Laura Lynch reports that one thing the government is considering is a plan to charge British students a lot more for college tuition.

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LISA MULLINS: American students, and their parents, are all too familiar with the hardship and struggle of trying to pay for college. That’s something their British counterparts may soon be facing. That’s because the British government is considering a plan to charge students a lot more for college. It’s especially painful in a country where up until a dozen years ago university tuition was free. The World’s Laura Lynch reports from London.

LAURA LYNCH:  The students are already on the march. At the University of Sheffield, they’re angry that their local member of Parliament and deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg, is breaking a promise not to hike tuition fees. Those fees are now up to 4,700 dollars a year. But a new report, endorsed by the government, recommends letting England’s universities, or uni’s as the students like to call them, charge whatever they see fit.

FEMALE SPEAKER:  I think it’s a very dangerous, dangerous situation to be in because I think we will end up with a situation where, whether you go to uni is determined by your financial standing and not by your academic ability.

MALE SPEAKER: The biggest concern is that it’s going to be different fees for different courses at different institutions. And what we will start to have is a situation where people are choosing their courses according to the cost, rather than what is most appropriate for them do to.

FEMALE SPEAKER: It’s still cheaper than the people in the states pay and we are very lucky in that respect. And students, I think, do understand that you’ve got to pay for it at some point. I just don’t think raising the tuition fees is the right way to go with it.

LYNCH: Even if fees double, tuition would still be much cheaper than at many of America’s private universities. Part of the reason for the proposed hike is the explosion in enrollment. In the 1950s just 3% of those 18 to 24 attended university. Now, it’s closer to 50%. But the coalition government’s minister for business, Vince Cable, told the House of Commons part of the blame also rests with the former Labor government.

VINCE CABLE: We are not in an ideal world. We’re in a world where we have inherited a massive financial mess and have come to terms with reality and it’s time the honorable gentleman and his friends did the same.

LYNCH: That financial mess, as Cable calls it, will be laid bare next week. That’s when the government unveils what are expected to be deep cuts in public spending. Wendy Piatt represents twenty of Britain’s leading universities. Piatt says they can’t compete with other institutions around the world without extra funding, so she supports higher fees. But she worries what else the government is planning for higher education.

PIATT: If we are facing really significant cuts next week then we could be back to square one. We’re desperately in need of additional funding and we’re worried that this will just end up being a replacement of funding from the government to the student.

LYNCH: If university budgets are slashed, it may force some top schools to more than double the fees they charge now. Even though student loans are available, students, and their parents, fear that an affordable education may be a thing of the past. For The World, I’m Laura Lynch in London.

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