Two tiers
This article in the AJ this week highlights the probable increase of tuition fees at UK universities, which is obviously bad news for architectural students who are badly paid when they graduate even during so-called "normal" times (a disingenuous expression which implies that recessions are abnormal, when in fact they are all part of the ebb and flow of free-market capitalism).
However, the article fails to point out that there is already a two-tier system: The AA is one tier, with a current tuition fee of £15,273 and the remainder of the schools, whose fees are currently capped at £3,145, form the other tier.
It will be interesting to see what happens to the AA when the fees of the Russell group of universities approach that of the AA. Will they increase their fees further to maintain the elitism, or will they have to start looking at grades as part of the entrance requirement?
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Nothing will change. In fact, if anything the AA have started to increase the number of admitted students in recent years in order to increase its income - of which about 95% comes from students.
You're forgetting that the AA is very much an international school and has been for a long time. Many of the students coming to the AA would have had to pay the overseas fee at other universities which for years have been almost equivalent to the AA fees. It then becomes an easy choice for them to apply to the well-known school rather than the lesser known one, when they are faced with the same fee amount.
I also don't think that the AA is "elitist" simply from having high fees?!? Maybe you need to clarify what you need by "elitist". Think this is a big misconception of the school.
Good point - I'd forgotten the AA is an international school. So do you think it will increase its fees as the university schools increase theirs so that it remains a rich person's school?
That's what I mean by it being elitist - only (or 95%) for the rich.
Traditionally the AA fees have only gone as per or slightly above inflation. I don't see any reason why or how they could drastically increase the fees - it would be backstabbing the existing student body of which some are on a carefully balanced budget.
In recent years, the school has been trying quite hard to dispel "the myth" that it is more expensive.
I'm sure if you speak to the admins there, they will claim that they do a better job in terms of cost per student than a government-funded university It does also provide scholarships (alas too few) and bursaries, some of which are two-term, which if the Russell Group hikes their fees to £7K could potentially make it cheaper for you to study at the AA.
Don't want to bang the drum too much on behalf of the AA, but it goes without saying that quite a few of the students there have wealthy parents back home that provide for them. But I sometimes doubt it is far more than if the students were at a top university in their home country.
Put it this way: Many of the students do come from a background of relative wealth and in some cases a culture where parents have anticipated spending a large portion of their income on their children's education. But there's also a good chunk of us, that simply make ends meet by doing part-time work, taking loans and applying for grants/scholarships/bursaries. I would hate to think that anyone who is keen to go the AA denies themselves the opportunity just because they think it's for "rich kids" and hence they won't fit in...And I don't think they will drastically up the fees. And if they did increase above the previous margin I very much doubt that they would do so simply as a marketing/accessibility strategy.
Having said all that, the school does do some odd things - like almost routinely dropping students joining from another university a year below their current grade (so a third year would be recommended for 2nd at the AA).
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