Small increase leaves no one happy

For students, who already fear the burden of debt, the fear is that fee hikes may not stop there, with possible increases further into the lifetime of this parliament.

- Sally Weale

For the Tories who repeatedly shied away from increasing fees, it is evidence of more broken promises from Labour.

Many in the sector regard it as a temporary stopgap before wider reform. Sam Freedman, a former policy adviser to the Department for Education, spoke for many when he posted: "RPI increase in tuition fees is necessary as a holding policy to stop the HE [higher education] sector falling over, but it's not a solution to a funding model that is putting young professionals under too much pressure (alongside housing costs and lower income tax thresholds)."