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But Mr Clegg said that although he thought tuition fees were “pernicious”, scrapping them may not be affordable in the current climate – though he stressed that the overall education budget would not be cut under the Lib Dems.
And he described proposals by the Schools Secretary, Ed Balls, to cut senior staff jobs in schools to save up to £2bn as “extraordinary”.
He said it would be “absolute madness to blight the life chances of the young”.
Mr Clegg also confirmed that his party wanted to cut the number of MPs from nearly 646 to 500, and to close what he called huge tax loopholes so as to stop ordinary taxpayers “subsidising the wealthy”.
The Lib Dem leader has been setting out plans to “cut the cost of politics” by nearly £2bn, including closing 10 government departments and 90 quangos, axing spin doctors and no longer paying the Opposition leader’s wages out of the public purse.
The savings would be enough to renovate 200 schools a year, he said.