So what are beleaguered students and their parents to make of such high tuition fees?

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Many of the best private universities combine high tuition fees with an offer of aid to those who cannot pay the bill.

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The idea of charges for university education (euphemistically known as top-up fees) strikes fear into the hearts of parents neither poor enough to benefit from state hand-outs nor rich enough not to feel the pinch of high tuition fees.

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Along with an entrenched and historic reputation for academic freedom, US universities also continue to be some of the wealthiest in the world, and are able to command high tuition fees and often large donations from wealthy alumni, he says.

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There are many reasons why college costs are so high a tripling of tuition and fees, after adjusting for inflation, over the past three decades.

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However, its core demographic has been hit hard by the weak economy, according to Ms Westnedge, with young consumers facing a particularly high unemployment rate, as well as rising university tuition fees.

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Shadow business secretary John Denham said tuition fees "don't have to be as high next year, if only the government listened to us".

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From this year, said Mr Wen, schools would no longer charge tuition or other fees for children having their compulsory education (up to the end of junior high school).

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The danger of this happening will become acute on December 21st, when a Scottish businessman, Andrew Cubie, is due, at Mr Dewar's request, to publish a report about the future of university tuition fees, a subject which accident as much as design has elevated into a difference of high principle between Labour and the Lib Dems.

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