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Plans to subsidise low-income families ‘not ambitious enough’, funding quango tells institutions hoping to charge £4,000 a year Welsh universities have been forbidden from charging higher tuition fees next year because their plans to encourage poor teenagers to take up places are not ambitious enough. All Welsh universities – and four of the country’s colleges – want to charge annual fees of more than £4,000 by autumn 2012. But to do this, they had to submit plans to subsidise more low-income students. These plans had to be endorsed by the quango that is in charge of allocating public funds, the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales (Hefcw). However, the quango has told all 10 universities and the four colleges that their plans were not ambitious enough and that they would have to rewrite them if they were to charge higher fees. The move will be closely watched by universities in England, where the same could happen. All 123 universities and university colleges in England and a further 17 further education colleges are hoping to charge more than £6,000 a year from autumn 2012. To do so, they have had to submit targets to widen their pool of students beyond white middle-class teenagers. The Office for Fair Access is considering the plans and in July will tell universities whether it has accepted them. The English government has recommended that universities spend £1,000 out of every £9,000 received in fees on support for students. A spokeswoman from Hefcw said it had written to the universities and colleges in Wales to say that the plans, in their current form, “do not meet the necessary requirements”. She said the proposals lacked ambition in some cases, while in others the targets fell short of what was expected. Some universities did not include as much detail as the quango wanted. “We expect to receive revised plans, taking account of the concerns we have raised with individual institutions, by, or very soon after, the end of June,” she said. The quango said it would not be commenting on each university’s proposals before 11 July, when it will have made final decisions. Leighton Andrews, education minister in the Welsh assembly, said he was pleased that Hefcw had been “thorough and robust”. He said: “Plans will only be agreed if institutions demonstrate that they are meeting certain requirements, which include equality of access to higher education and improving the student experience.” Welsh universities will be allowed to charge up to £9,000 tuition fees for students from England and Wales. But the Welsh assembly government will subsidise Welsh students up to £5,625 a year for their studies. The lecturers’ trade union said Hefcw’s decision was “worrying” and “confusing” for English universities. Sally Hunt, general secretary of the University and College Union, said: “This extra confusion for English universities just adds to the mess that is the government’s failing university funding policy. Unless the government uses the imminent publication of the white paper to pause on its catastrophic reforms then it will be staff, students and the UK’s international reputation that suffer the most.” Tuition fees Higher education Students University funding Wales Advice for students Further education Education policy Jessica Shepherd guardian.co.uk