42% of students are part-time

It put off bringing its Higher Education Bill to the Commons until January because of a likely rebellion from Labour MPs.

Now dissent has widened, with more than 130 MPs signing a Commons motion raising fears about how the bill will deal with part-time or mature students.

They think it unfair that part-timers will still have to pay tuition fees while studying, rather than after graduating.

Many are not among the 150 who signed a motion criticising top-up fees.

They include the chairman of the education select committee, Barry Sheerman - who backs top-up fees.

The MP behind the motion is Labour's Hywel Francis, who has been heavily involved in adult learning and education in the community.

The former professor of continuing education at Swansea University told BBC News Online: "The motion is picking up a lot of cross-party support - from people who are both for and against top-up fees.

"About 42% of students study part-time, so we are asking the government to ensure that its proposed Higher Education Bill is fair and equitable for part-time and full-time adult students."

In particular, Mr Francis wants a guarantee that part-time students will be allowed to defer paying their tuition fees until after they have graduated, as full-time students will do.

Promise

At present, part-timers generally pay for their courses up-front, as all students do - but whereas the full-time rate is fixed at �1,125 a year, charges for part-time courses vary.

The government's white paper on the future of higher education - the basis of the bill - said: "no student will have to pay their contribution up-front or while they are studying".

A spokesperson for the Department for Education said there was a separate paragraph about part-time students later in the white paper.

This implied that everything before that was about full-time students, she said.

The section on part-timers makes no mention of when fees would have to be paid.

Wage premium

Groups which promote adult learning are lobbying the government over the issue.

Alastair Thomson, of the National Institute of Adult Continuing Education, said the government seemed to be focusing on younger, full-time students.

"It looks increasingly likely that a better deal for part-time students will need to be part of any settlement the government makes with rebel backbenchers on higher education reform," he said.

"A new fees regime must not be designed simply for 18-21 year olds and their parents.

"Mature entrants to higher education will have fewer years from which to benefit from any wage premium that graduate status brings - and most will have been contributing to the cost of others' higher education through general taxation throughout their working lives."

Among those who have signed the Early Day Motion at Westminster are education select committee chairman, Barry Sheerman, and committee member David Chaytor, who have not signed the other motion against top-up fees.

Other signatories include the former foreign secretary Robin Cook, who has described top-up fees as obscene.

Last year, the government made changes to extend the student loan system to mature and part-time students as part of its drive towards lifelong learning.

But critics argue that part-time students still do not have access to the same range of support available to full-time students.