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I was amused by how Niall Mackay's letter (July 14) proved Susan Bassnett's argument on misunderstandings about university finances (Working Knowledge, July 7).

With one third of tuition fees to be spent on bursaries, the net gain on the ?1,250 present fee is only ?750. And the new fees will be paid only by 45 per cent of students - not by postgraduates, part-timers, overseas or National Health Service-funded students.J So on the present student-staff ratio of 19:1 each academic will "generate" some ?6,400 in 2008-09, rather than Mackay's estimate of ?30,000.

Allowing for employers' pension and National Insurance contributions, one third of that would fund an improvement in pay rates of about 2.5 per cent for all staff.

Peter Thorpe
Ucea