Top-up fees 'to hit average earners'

Families with earnings of £25,000 will suffer most as a result of university top-up fees, a new report reveals today.

In a double blow, these lower middle income families will miss out on increased government support and it is likely their children will fall outside the category of students who can qualify for university bursaries.

With most universities planning to charge the £3,000 topup fees from 2006, the report by the Commons Library shows that students from families earning the average wage of £24,741 will be those hardest hit.

And while under the present system students whose parents earn £25,000 pay £892 for their child's three-year degree - with the Government paying the balance of £2,743 - from September 2006 they will have to pay £6,300 of the £9,000 charge.

Tory MP James Clappison, who served on the committee which scrutinised top-up fee legislation, today warned it was "a hammer blow" for lower middle income families.

He said: "These modest earners will be hit hardest and are having very substantial debts foisted on their children, which those from lower incomes will avoid."