Financing universities - is there a way out of the maze?

Universities are in a financial pickle. Home fees are not enough to cover the cost of teaching home students, while the number of foreign students and the fees they are charged cannot rise much further. To add to that, the Government is now proposing a 6 per cent levy on tuition fees from foreign students in order to fund other education and skills programmes. Nicholas Barr argues that the only way out of this financial dead end for universities is for the Government to recoup more money from student loans than it currently does.