The next step is obvious: universities need freedom to fix their own fees. The cap needs to go. They are already edging their way towards independence, and results so far are encouraging. The New College of the Humanities, one of many new kids on England’s higher education block, charges up to £18,000 for courses but applies what it calls a “Robin Hood” policy aimed at ensuring a third of its students pay nothing. This is an embryonic form of the American model, which could certainly work here. The average Oxford degree costs about £16,000 a year – why should this cost not be borne by those who can afford it?