Government ministers have promised a review of the fees system for part-time students amid accusations of “inequality” when compared to full-time students.

Ministers will consider whether to adjust the amount part-time students have to pay, creating a more varied market in the cost of going to university. The point at which fees are paid may also be discussed.

Bill Rammell, the higher education minister, expressed a need to address the inequality in the fees system as part-timers must pay their fees when they sign up for courses whereas full-time students do not have to pay back their tuition fee loans until they are earning over a certain threshold. However he maintains that there is a distinction “between adults in the workplace trying to better themselves and the traditional student.”

Professor David Latchman, Master of Birkbeck College, says: “it is encouraging that the Government has listened to part-time higher education providers.” The majority of the college’s students study on a part-time basis and Latchman believes that it’s these students who have been “poorly served by a lack of proper financial support from successive governments… it should be the qualification that matters, not how and when you study for it.”

Wes Streeting, president of the National Union of Students, also welcomed the news: “It’s critically important that the government revisits part-time students who have been shamefully overlooked.”