Just to say, there are two sides to this problem. The UK govt had spent two or three decades before it brought in fees attempting to get universities to reduce

Just to say, there are two sides to this problem. The UK govt had spent two or three decades before it brought in fees attempting to get universities to reduce costs...this was unsuccessful. The idea was: we can do literally nothing about this problem, so students will pay for it (and btw, the debt is a fairly soft one), and hopefully universities will cut back when students get angry at them...which has basically happened after the wave of Chinese money started running out a few years ago (and has now gone completely). Universities are digging their own graves, and hopefully something better will come out of it. This issue is, btw, basically identical to the one for council funding. It is a very tricky area with no easy answers but, funnily enough, always ends up with the same solution (council funding in the UK is basically regressive, like university funding because there is literally no way to pressure these institutions to be responsible without user paying).