The motive for current UK government increasing the student fees could originate from the realisation that too many students are going to university. These policy changes are a convenient way to achieve the desired result - elitism and a reduced total number of students - without directly stating this as an objective.
The government have probably realised that the previous policies geared towards increasing the percentage of the population in further education are not achieving the desired outcomes. This is because there are a finite number of high achievers, and these students were already obtaining places. By increasing the number of young people going to University, standards have fallen and students are being awarded very expensive qualifications with have less intrinsic value than ever.
