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For many students in the UK today, deciding whether or not to go to university can be as much about affordability as it is about ambition and aspiration. 对于今天英国的许多学生来说，决定是不是去上大学已经不仅仅关乎抱负与渴望，能不能上得起也是他们做出决定的重要因素。 In times gone by, students in the UK could apply to a university or college safe in the knowledge that, even if they came from a low income family, their tuition fees and some of their living(or maintenance) costs would be covered by a local authority grant. A university education was, in a financial sense, open to all and the number of students attending university grew year on year. 过去，英国的学生可以申请大学，并且确信即使自己来自低收入家庭，学费和一部分生活费也可以由当地的政府部门拨款发放津贴解决。大学教育，从学费角度而言是对所有学生开放的，因此踏入大学校门的学生也逐年增多。 Sadly, it seems, those days are long gone. The turning point came in 1998, when the Labour Government introduced tuition fees of ￡1,000 a year and, instead of giving students a maintenance grant, asked them to cover their own living expenses with a repayable student loan. Only students on the lowest incomes were entitled to a grant. 遗憾的是，那些日子一去不复返了。转折点发生在1998年，工党政府开始推行每年需缴1,000英镑大学学费的政策，并且不再向学生发放生活津贴，而是让他们通过需要偿还的学生贷款来解决生活费问题。只有来自最低收入家庭的学生才有资格得到补助。 | 
