Students will have lowest debt under Lib Dem plans

10.05.00am UTC (GMT +0000) Mon 21st Mar 2005

Bath's MP, Don Foster has warmly welcomed the Institute of Fiscal Studies' (IFS) analysis of the three parties' policies for higher education. It confirms that graduates will face the least debt under Liberal Democrat proposals, compared to the policies of the other main parties.

Commenting, Don said,

"I am delighted that our plans to abolish tuition fees and top-up fees have been vindicated by the independent and internationally respected IFS.

"The Tories plans have been revealed as expensive for students and risky for lenders, whilst our proposals have been given a clean bill of health.

"Coming just a day after the news that a third of the revenue from top-up fees would be used to support student bursaries and not invested in improved teaching, this shows that only the Liberal Democrats can be trusted with the financing of higher education.

"Independent experts and young people at university are agreed - the Liberal Democrats offer the best deal to students."

ENDS

Notes to editors:

The IFS report states:

"To achieve the same standard of living while at university, graduates under the Liberal Democrats' scheme would on average take less time to repay their debts than under Labour or the Conservatives.

"This is because:

• Debt on graduation would be lower under the Liberal Democrats compared to Labour, since there would be no need to borrow for fees.

• The positive real interest rate charged by banks under the Conservatives (up to 5.5%) would mean that the outstanding value of debt would go down by less each year as repayments were made than in the Liberal Democrat system, where the real rate of interest would be zero. Indeed outstanding debt could go up under the Conservatives for low earners, even as they repay."