Senior staff in Northern Ireland's five universities and university colleges have called for tuition fees to rise by more than £1,000 a year. They have written to the leaders of the five main political parties asking for the fees to rise to £5,831 a year from the current £4,750.

Commenting on the announcement that the universities and colleges in Northern Ireland have asked the Executive to allow this increase in tuition fees, Nicola Grant said it is outrageous that these institutions should call for such an increase while working class families are living through the worst economic crisis in decades.

 The Workers Party believes that tuition fees should be abolished, not increased. Tuition fees have a disproportionate impact on working class students and those working-class young people who wish to go on to third level education. Third level education should be the right for all our citizens, not only those who can afford it, we should all be given the opportunity to fulfill our full potential in life, and the state should have the responsibility of providing free third level education, if working class children are to be given the opportunity to enhance their educational abilities and improve their life chances. Nicola concluded by calling on the Executive Parties to reject any such increase which will hamper working class children's ability to undertake university degrees, which was thought to help social mobility but has proven to be a myth because in certain sections of our society the entitlements of the privileged are hiding in plain site.

The universities and colleges could ask for something other than a hike in fees: they could call for a return to increased public funding through per-student grants. Taxing 'high-net-worth individuals' and corporations that directly benefit from an educated workforce is also a viable alternative. Recent research shows that the top 50 families in the UK held more wealth than half of the UK population, comprising 33.5 million people. Let’s tax these people. Instead, the local heads of colleges and universities seems to prefer the familiar narrative that students must pay more for the same, or even a diminishing, educational experience.