New College will charge $29,000 tuition

The New College of the Humanities, which will open in Bloomsbury, London next year, is backed by some of Britain’s star academics. It’s also guaranteeing one-to-one time with professors, with classes of fewer than 10 pupils each. But it will come with a hefty price tag — $29,000 — and that’s stirring controversy across the U.K., reports Times Higher Education. Philosopher A.C. Grayling, atheist Richard Dawkins and historian Niall Ferguson are among the professors who are planning the new university. Tuition has been widely debated in the U.K. this past year after public universities obtained the right to charge tuition up to $14,500. Baroness Blackstone, a former Labour education secretary, is leading the opposition to The New College. She told BBC Radio 4 that it’s a “very bad deal” and warned that it will be “an institution for the very rich, a few people with bursaries and overseas students.” Grayling told the BBC that 30 per cent of students will receive some form of financial support and many will pay closer to $16,000.