Was it right to hike university tuition fees up to £9,000 in 2012?

Universities may well have had to find extra funding after cuts were made from the Government, but surely it should be priority of the government to ensure education is available to those of all backgrounds - and so no cuts should have been made in the first place.

With a £3,000 tuition fee at university prior to 2012, most graduates were already facing over a decade of debt, trying to pay off an ever increasing sum due to interest being added to the loan amount. By hiking the tuition fee up to £9,000 for a university degree, surely this is only more of a burden to those seeking higher education and better paid jobs.

The higher price is most likely to also put off individuals living in poorer areas, and thus decreasing social mobility. It's a huge amount of debt to have hanging over your head, and consequently people are more likely to think twice about furthering their education.