The £9,000 in tuition—about $13,000—that EU students currently pay, while reasonable by U.S. standards, is among the highest rates in the EU. Another tuition hike could motivate more EU students to seek a degree elsewhere, in their home countries or in other EU members states where tuition is cheaper, says Alistair Jarvis, the deputy chief executive of the trade association Universities UK. Higher ed in Germany, for instance, is basically free.