Disrupting tuition fees: Rethinking value for money in business education

For decades, discussions about universities have centred on excellence, rankings and graduate outcomes. Today, another question sits alongside them with increasing urgency: what constitutes value for money in higher education?

For prospective students, there is no longer an abstract policy debate but a deeply personal calculation. Rising living costs, concerns about graduate debt, changing labour market expectations and greater scrutiny of return on investment mean students are making different decisions about university than previous generations.

As business education providers, we should welcome this scrutiny rather than resist it. The conversation should not simply focus on reducing costs; it should examine how institutions can continue delivering outstanding academic experiences while responding to changing student needs and expectations. That requires us to think differently about how we design, deliver and communicate around higher education.

This summer, The University of Buckingham launched a celebratory fees initiative to mark its 50th anniversary, reducing tuition fees by 45% on selected undergraduate programmes (Same degree, less debt). Three of the four eligible courses are offered by the ‘business school’: Business Management and Leadership, Business Entrepreneurship, and Business Management and Marketing. Combined with Buckingham’s established two-year degree model, the initiative reflects a broader question facing the sector: how can universities deliver greater value without compromising academic quality?

The current model in higher education leaves many students with high levels of debt for limited academic engagement. However, we believe there is a better way – one that delivers high contact and academic engagement in a shorter timeframe, at a lower overall cost.

Students are asking legitimate questions

Today’s students are entering higher education during a period of significant economic uncertainty.

In the context of a cost-of-living crisis, students are increasingly questioning the value of in-person teaching when they can access lecture content at their own convenience, and the value of long periods of independent study and life away from home where they are still expected to pay for services and accommodation. At The University of Buckingham, students get 10 weeks of annual holiday, but that is spread across four separate breaks, ensuring uninterrupted academic engagement. Our established two-year model offers high-contact time, structure, regular engagement and clear academic progression – this aligns more closely with contemporary student expectations of value and a sense of community.

Students today are also rightly questioning whether the tradition model represents value for money. Our approach combines quality, efficiency and flexibility – giving students a clearer return on their investment in higher education.

This does not signal a diminished appreciation for higher education. Quite the opposite. Students continue to value rigorous teaching, intellectual challenge and personal development. However, they also expect universities to demonstrate that their educational models absolutely reflect the realities of modern life. Whilst everything around us is changing at a fast pace, universities need to be agile to the changing expectations of students.

Business schools should recognise this shift. We teach future leaders to innovate, respond to changing markets and meet evolving customer expectations. It follows that our own institutions should be equally willing to question whether longstanding assumptions continue to serve today’s learners.

Innovation was never just about technology

Innovation in higher education is often associated with development around technology and more recently artificial intelligence. Yet innovation can be equally about rethinking delivery models that have remained largely unchanged for decades.

At The University of Buckingham, innovation has been part of our identity since our foundation in 1976, which centred around disrupting the established university model. Our two-year degree model was built on a simple proposition: delivering the same academic outcomes through year-round teaching, structured learning and sustained academic engagement.

Over five decades, this approach has demonstrated that accelerated learning need not mean compromised learning. Students complete the same recognised qualification, benefit from substantial academic contact throughout the year and enter employment sooner. They also reduce both tuition and living costs. The model has, over time, illustrated an important principle: innovation is not about asking students to accept less. It is about finding more effective ways to deliver the same academic quality.

Cost and quality are not competing priorities

Across the sector, value for money is often presented as though it inevitably requires compromise. I believe this is a false choice. Quality in higher education is determined by the strength of teaching, curriculum design, student support, intellectual challenge and academic community – not simply by the length of time students spend enrolled. The more important question is whether institutions are deploying their academic resources in ways that maximise learning while responding to students’ financial realities.

Buckingham’s initiative, where tuition fees on applicable courses are just £7,830 per year, reflects this principle. By combining lower tuition fees on selected programmes with an established accelerated degree model, we hope to contribute constructively to the national conversation about affordability while maintaining our commitment to academic quality.

This is not to suggest there is only one successful model of higher education. Traditional three-year degrees remain the right choice for many students. However, diversity of provision strengthens the sector. Students benefit when universities offer genuine choices between different models that reflect different ambitions, circumstances and learning preferences.

What business schools must ask themselves

Business education has always evolved alongside economic and societal change. Today, business schools face another period of transformation, driven by changing employer expectations, demographic shifts growing financial pressures across higher education and now AI. Responding successfully will require more than incremental change. It demands a willingness to revisit fundamental assumptions.

Business schools should ask themselves:

• Are we designing programmes around institutional convenience or student success?

• Do our teaching models maximise meaningful interaction between students and academics?

• Are we transparent about the value students receive beyond formal teaching hours?

• Are we prepared to challenge assumptions about programme length, teaching patterns and how educational quality should be measured?

• Do we really know what students value, or have we just become good at measuring what correlates with satisfaction on average?

There is also a question worth asking more often: does a calendar full of long, unstructured breaks actually prepare graduates for the working world they are stepping into? No employer offers three months off in summer. If business schools exist to build discipline, structure and sustained effort, then months of no formal learning does not prepare students for the workplace.

Innovation does not always require wholesale structural reform. Sometimes it begins by questioning practices that have persisted simply because they have become familiar.

Value extends beyond financial calculations

While value is an important issue for students, particularly in the current climate, it cannot be measured solely in financial terms. Students rightly expect universities to foster intellectual curiosity, critical thinking, confidence, resilience and lifelong learning. They seek communities where they are known personally, challenged academically and supported throughout their studies. These qualities remain fundamental regardless of institutional model.

At Buckingham, small-group teaching exists because we believe students should be known as an individual and not just as a number. That closeness – a tutor who remembers what you struggled with last term, a seminar small enough that silence is noticed – is still one of the strongest predictors of whether a degree actually changes someone.

Technology will continue to reshape higher education, but meaningful relationships between students and academics remain irreplaceable.

A conversation the sector should embrace

Higher education has the potential to adapt. The current debate about value for money and the rise of AI presents another opportunity for thoughtful innovation rather than defensive preservation of existing models, as is demonstrated by the initiative at Buckingham.

Business education providers are particularly well placed to lead this conversation. We educate the entrepreneurs, managers and decision-makers who will shape future organisations. It seems only fair that our own institutions show the same willingness to adapt that we ask of our graduates.

Ultimately, the discussion should not focus solely on whether university costs too much. A more constructive question is how universities can continue delivering exceptional educational experiences while ensuring students feel confident that their investment is worthwhile.

There will not be one answer for every institution. Different universities will find different routes, shaped by their own philosophy and their own students. But the sector is better when it is open to question its own assumptions and put student value back at the centre of the decision – not as a courtesy, but because these are the students who will go on to run the businesses and shape the policies we will all be relying on.

Let’s not forget either, that universities act as major economic engines, driving national growth and local prosperity. The higher education sector generates a massive £265 billion annually for the UK economy, returning £14 for every £1 of public money invested, according to one recent Universities UK study.

Fifty years after The University of Buckingham was founded to challenge conventional thinking, I believe that spirit remains as relevant as ever. We want to demonstrate that it is possible to deliver a high-quality academic experience while providing better value for students. We hope this will contribute to a wider conversation about how universities can respond to concerns around affordability while maintaining strong academic standards.