On Wednesday 22 January, Professor Stephanie Marshall, Vice-Principal (Education) wrote to undergraduates affected by changes to tuition fees from September 2025.
Dear student,
Welcome to Semester 2! I hope you managed to have a break over the Christmas and New Year period, and if you have just finished exams, that they went well. I am writing to inform you about important changes to tuition fees for your course from September 2025.
On 4 November 2024, the UK government announced proposed changes to UK Tuition Fees from 2025. Once these proposals have been through parliament, which will happen in the next few weeks, the maximum tuition fee will increase to £9,535, a rise of £285 from this year. From September 2025, all students at Queen Mary who are assessed as home for fees purposes will be charged £9,535.
Tuition fees for postgraduate and international students remain as published on our course pages.
Since 2017, the tuition fee for UK students has been frozen. Inflation has been high for the last few years, which means that now the UK tuition fee income does not cover the cost of teaching. Universities, including Queen Mary, have therefore had to rely on money from other sources, such as international and postgraduate students’ fees, to cover costs. The number of international and postgraduate students coming to the UK for education has decreased, and so many universities are now facing significant financial challenges, which you may have read about in the media.
This increase in tuition fees from September 2025 affects all undergraduate students who are assessed as home students for tuition fee purposes, including new students and those who are progressing on to the next year of their course. International students’ fees are as published on our website, and are increased each year in line with inflation. Fees for postgraduate students are as published on our website.
We realise an increase in tuition fee feels like an extra financial challenge. For the majority of our students, who cover the cost of tuition fees through a tuition fee loan, the increase in tuition fee will not cost anything in the short-term. If you take out a tuition fee loan, this will continue to cover the cost of your tuition fees. You will start paying the loan back to the Student Loans Company after you graduate and once you earn over the threshold annual amount, currently set at £25,000 per annum. Once you have reached the salary threshold, you will pay a percentage of your salary back to the Student Loan Company. The increase in loan that results from the increased fee does not mean you will pay back more each month. It may mean you are paying the loan back for longer.
If you are self-financing, you will need to pay the increased fee. If you are struggling financially there is help available: please reach out via our website.
We always monitor the impact of any change in fee regime on our students carefully.
At the same time the government increased the fees, they also announced an increase to the maintenance loan that students can access. This has been welcomed by students as it is now possible to access more money to help with living costs.
Even with this increase in fees, it is unlikely that tuition fee income from UK students will cover the full cost of teaching students at Queen Mary. The increase in income will help cover the cost of what we are already doing, rather than enable us to do more.
When the government announced the increase in tuition fees, they set out a number of expectations of universities. These expectations include a focus on support for students who are least likely to attend higher education. Queen Mary is a leader in this area, and we are committed to working even harder to support the most underrepresented students in higher education, including care-experienced students, disabled students and students who have accessed free school meals. Every year, we spend more than £8m in bursaries for students from the lowest income backgrounds, which is higher than most universities. If you would like to read more about our work in this area, please see our Access and Participation Plan.
There is more information for students on the tuition fee raises on the UK government website, and on The Student Room.
Please see our advice and guidance about funding your studies.
If you are struggling financially, there is help available. Please reach out for help if you need it.
Best wishesStephanie
Professor Stephanie MarshallVice-Principal for EducationQueen Mary University of London