England has a distinctive higher education tuition system – based on student loans with income contingent repayment.
The high tuition charge is hard on students and might have blocked access and choked off the growth of opportunity, but income contingent repayment enables no fee barriers at point of entry, and a socially equitable sharing of the burden.
Income contingent loans (ICL) are not normal commercial loans. The taxpayer ultimately covers the cost of the education received by graduates who do not earn enough to trigger the full repayment. Higher education expanded significantly after the 2006 ICL reforms and again after tuition was ramped up to a ceiling of £9,000 per full-time student year (it’s now £9,250) in 2012.
