Reflecting the changing ideological and economic perspectives of the government of the day, the expansion of higher education in England has prompted numerous reforms aimed at reshaping and restructuring the sector and its funding. Leading to student riots and sparking some of the sharpest controversies in British higher education the reforms introduced in 2012/13 are by far the most radical and those concerning higher education funding and student finances the most far-reaching. This book seeks to unpack the drivers for the reforms while locating them in a broad historical, ideological, and policy context. Informed by the vast literature and research on higher education this book brings together recognised experts including leading academics and policy analysts. Divided into two parts, the first provides history and context while the second examines particular issues and themes arising including: historical antecedents of the reforms and tuition fee policies; the distinctive characteristics of the reforms; an economic critique of the limits to marketisation and the commodification of higher education; the drivers behind social mobility and widening participation and the subsequent impact of tuition fees; the consequences of fee setting policies among institutions; the impact on part-time students; the entrance of new providers in the higher education sector; the impact on institutional autonomy and freedom; and the policy vacuum on postgraduate education and the future of research. While the reforms have attracted significant media coverage focusing on the short-term consequences of the reforms, this book goes far beyond the media headlines to identify the nature of the reforms and to understand their impact on higher education institutions, students, and society as a whole. Contents include: (1) Introduction (Claire Callender and Peter Scott); (2) Public Expenditure and Tuition Fees: The search for alternative ways to pay for higher education (Michael Shattock); (3) The Coalition Government's reform of higher education: Policy formation and political process (Peter Scott); (4) A bridge too far: An economic critique of marketization of higher education (Gareth Williams); (5) The end of mystery and the perils of explicitness (Ronald Barnett); (6) As easy as AAB: The impact of the quasi-market on institutions, student numbers and the HE sector (Gill Wyness); (7) Widening participation and social mobility (Anna Vignoles); (8) Part-time undergraduate student funding and financial support (Claire Callender); (9) Aspects of UK private Higher Education (Paul Temple); (10) Postgraduate education: Overlooked and forgotten? (Geoff Whitty and Joel Mullan); (11) Leading the British university today: Your fate in whose hands?; and (12) Conclusion (Claire Callender and Peter Scott). An index is included.