Welsh students will not pay extra tuition fees

Welsh domiciled students will not pay any extra tuition fees, the Labour-led Assembly Government announced today.
Labour AM JOYCE WATSON said the move was a fantastic boost for students from Pembrokeshire.
Labour’s Education Minister, Leighton Andrews, has announced that from the start of the academic year 2012/13 basic tuition fees will rise to £6000 per annum at Welsh HE institutions.  They will be able to charge fees up to £9000, if they meet certain requirements, but the Assembly Government will meet the extra cost for students who are domiciled in Wales.
JOYCE WATSON said: “I am absolutely delighted with this announcement.
“I am completely against the marketisation of higher education. I believe that Labour’s Education Minister, Leighton Andrews, has made a bold and fair decision which, unlike the decision taken by the Tories and Lib Dems in England, is in the best interests of Welsh domiciled students.
“The ConDem Westminster government plans to force students to pay up to £9,000 in tuition fees themselves would stop many in Pembrokeshire even thinking about entering Higher Education.
“While the Conservatives are determined to shift the burden to students, the Labour-led Welsh Assembly Government will give them the opportunities they deserve.
“Once again, we have seen the benefits of devolution at first hand. Without a Labour-led Assembly this would never have happened.”
Leighton Andrews added: “Higher education should be on the basis of the individual’s potential to benefit, and not on the basis of what they can afford to pay. 
“The message today is clear. Students ordinarily resident in Wales going to university in 2012-13 will be no worse off than if they had gone to university this year.”