After six years holding down full time hours, no holidays and practically no social life...I am greeted with the happy-go-lucky news that tuition fees have trebled and apparently I should be ecstatic by the news...

...all I can ask is "and what medication do you happen to be on?".

...I am thankful I got my degree in before this stupidity happened, but dammit, I seriously cannot afford to continue any further. I was looking forward to an additional certificate in Maths or Physics but that simply isn't going to happen. Education here in the UK is now only for the super rich.

What's the estimated average cost for a year of school where you study? I'm curious because I have no frame of reference, not because I don't believe you.

I don't know if anyone has mentioned the changes going on with the student loans situation here in the U.S., but there are a lot of things happening just to prevent higher education from becoming a thing of just the super rich. There's the income based repayment plan, which allows you to pay back your federal student loans based on how much money you make. There's also the Student Loan Forgiveness Act, which has just recently been proposed in Congress. It may not be passed, but it would certainly improve the system as it stands now.
But I would have to say that even without all those changes in the system going on to make it more feasible, it's still possible to get an education without giving up an arm and a leg. I'm going to state school right now, but we have one of the best mathematics and engineering departments around. And with federal aid and scholarships, plus the (small amount of) money my step-dad is paying, I only have to have a part-time job to pay for non-school related stuff. So it is very possible to get an education, so long as you don't go to a school you can't afford and know where to find the money.