The government is proposing to allow universities to increase the fees they charge to home students from ?3000 per year to up to ?9000 per year. The poorest students may qualify for grants, and others will be allowed to borrow the money from a bank, but will have to pay it back during their working lives once they start earning above a certain amount. There has been a lot of controversy recently about the governments proposal to cut their spending on university teaching and to increase university tuition fees. Outline some of the problems associated with this rise in tuition fees and suggest and evaluate possible alternative courses of action which could be taken to reduce the extra cost for students.