Prime Minister Theresa May is set to announce that university tuition fees will be frozen at £9,250. The repayment threshold would also rise, so graduates only start paying back their loans once they are earning at least £25,000.
The planned £250 increase in tuition fees for 2018-19 will not go ahead and they will instead remain at the current maximum of £9,250 per year.
During the election, Labour was seen to attract young voters by promising to scrap tuition fees altogether.
Speaking to the Sun on Sunday ahead of the start of the Conservative party conference in Manchester, the prime minister said: “Too many young people fear they are going to be worse off than their parents.
“We have listened to those concerns and we are going to act to offer a fairer deal for students and young people.”
Policy announcement designed to appeal to younger voters falls far short of Labour’s pledge to scrap tuition fees. Tuition fees were first introduced by Tony Blair’s New Labour Government in 1998, but have since risen dramatically along with the expansion of higher education.
The Conservatives are also considering cutting interest rates on student loan repayments, which have rocketed for recent graduates.
The changes to the loan system come with another pledge to extend the Help to Buy scheme, Mrs May said.
The Help to Buy expansion will see £10bn go to another 135,000 buyers in order to help them to own their own home. With the number of first-time buyers falling steadily, the funding will allow recipients to get a mortgage with a deposit of just 5%.
The announcement came ahead of the Conservative Party conference, the Prime Minister told the Sun on Sunday as part of an effort by the Tories to appeal to younger voters who have deserted them in droves.
