More than half of Brits believe that current university tuition fees represent bad value for money, according to a new YouGov survey.
Some 53% of those polled said that tuition fees priced at £9,250 a year are bad value for money, while just 19% said they're good value. Among graduates, the results are even more damning, with 69% saying £9,250 a year represents bad value for money.
However, the vast majority of graduates (76%) said that tuition fees priced at £3,000 a year – which is what students paid between 2006 and 2012 – would be good value for money.
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It's worth noting that these findings relate to tuition fees in England and Wales, because the majority of students from Scotland don't pay tuition fees.
Meanwhile, a significant minority of young people aged 18 to 24 (43%) said they object to recently implemented changes to the way graduates will pay back their student loans.
From this year, students beginning their courses will pay back their loans once they earn £25,000 a year – instead of £27,295 a year, the previous loan repayment threshold. They'll also have to repay their loans over a period of 40 instead of 30 years, meaning it will take longer for some graduates to clear their student debt.
Responding to the survey's findings, Nick Hillman of the Higher Education Policy Institute told The Guardian: "University demand is higher than it has ever been before. It might seem overpriced but people are still willing to do [it]."
It's not just new students who are feeling the pinch given the expense of studying generally. As Refinery29's Vicky Spratt reported in April, student loan repayments are set to increase this month for English and Welsh graduates who took out a student loan after 2012.
This is because of two things: firstly, changes made by the government – announced in the spring statement – to the way that student loan repayments work and, secondly, rising inflation during the cost of living crisis.