By raising tuition fees, universities can charge to a limit of £9,000, the coalition government is ensuring that a university education will become a thing of the past.

We will return to the days when only a few of our young people will ever have the chance of higher education.

The rich, the privileged and the powerful will continue, as they always have, to maintain their elite status.

It is estimated that a three-year degree course, with higher tuition fees plus living costs, would mean graduates starting their working life with a debt of £30,000.

How many parents of working-class or middle-income groups would want that for their children?

Michael Gove’s fantasy assures us that there will be protection for poor children, his definition of ‘poor’ being any child receiving free school meals, and that the Government will persuade the “top universities” to accept more students from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Is this believable? To make matters worse, the Government has plans to abolish the education maintenance allowance, which encourages 16-year-olds to stay on into the sixth form.

To my knowledge, entry into university is dependent on A-level results.

Possibly the removal of the allowance will discourage students from this path.

Trudie Elliott, Hopgrove Lane North, York.