Free Tuition

We first introduced free tuition for undergraduates in 2008 and have been advocating for free tuition since Labour introduced the Graduates Acts in 1998. Scotland is currently the only country in the UK that offers free tuition.

Young people have benefitted greatly from free tuition and have shown their support over the years it’s been in place. When Labour introduced fees it was just weeks after they said they had no plans to introduce fees for higher education.

With our free tuition in place, a record number of students are attending university and there’s near record numbers from the most deprived areas. This clearly shows how Scotland and its students rely on this free tuition to attain the higher education they need.

The SNP has given people all across Scotland the chance at a higher education, helping them towards a brighter future. Due to having free tuition easily accessible, it has resulted in Scotland having one of the best educated populations in Europe.

With the SNP, young people can freely access a higher education without worries, being able to achieve their goals without the fear of an unpayable debt after school is over. Scotland University students leave school with the lowest levels of debt in the UK due to free tuition.

English students often graduate with around £48,000+ in debt, Scottish students on the other hand graduate with an average of £16,000+ in debt, just 34% of what English students have to pay. Without the SNP’s free tuition, it is very possible that this number of debt would become a reality for Scottish students.

We promise to continue supporting free tuition for higher education for as long as we can. Labour taking free tuition away could mean taking away the futures of many young Scottish people who could otherwise not afford it, this is something we do not support as we believe access to higher education should be based on your ability to learn, not your ability to pay.