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Had this afternoon's statement by Education Minister Leighton Andrews on tuition fees been timed to coincide with Countdown to ensure an easy ride from students?

Winner of the class prize for best question during this morning's lobby briefing and the sole question the minister hadn't anticipated and didn't feel the need to bat off. The timing of Ministerial statements was out of his hands, he answered in a mock grave tone.

All the other answers to all the other questions around higher education and tuition fees are very much in his hands: how much will Welsh universities be able to charge in future? Will they be able to charge as much as £9,000 per year from September 2012 in line with the UK Government's intention for universities in England? If not, wait for warnings from Vice Chancellors in Wales that they're falling further and further behind their colleagues in England.

If so, then how much financial assistance can the Assembly Government offer students who live in Wales and who want to take their studies further? Will they be prepared to pay part of the fees of students who are domiciled in Wales in order to fulfil

If they do, will that offer only be made to students who are from Wales and who choose to study in Wales? Will there be an element of means-testing, or will any offer be universal?

And what about those who live in Wales but who choose to study in England? There are currently 16,000 a year who cross the border to study. You don't need Carol Vorderman to tell you that's a big number - it's a third of the total Welsh student body. Will they be told that they're on their own? Will they have to pay their own way and be offered less government help - just as happens now? Or will they, in future, be offered the same financial deal as their mates who choose to stay relatively near home to study?

In other words, could this afternoon's statement lead to a situation where a student from Swansea and a student from Swindon both end up in a lecture theatre on a popular course in Bristol, get chatting and find that one is going to leave with student debts that are considerably lower than the other?

The university authorities would still be getting £9,000 for both students of course - it's just that you and I and all other tax-payers in Wales will be making up the difference, in other words effectively subsidising the higher education sector in England.

Is there "a Welsh solution" - and if there is one, what does it look like and how much will it cost?

That's we'll find out from the Education Minister this afternoon. Just how many big numbers from the top row does he have to play with? Or is he stuck with the considerably smaller ones from the other three rows?

Wherever the money comes from - and wherever it goes, this afternoon's statement is worth turning over from Countdown for.

UPDATE

So now we know. The "made in Wales policy that demonstrates the benefits of devolution" - to quote the Education Minister - is this:

Welsh universities will be allowed to raise their fees up to £9,000 from 2012-13.

All Welsh-domiciled students - living in Wales in other words - will be given a Tuition Fee Grant which means they will pay no more than the £3,290 they do now.

The Assembly Government will make up the difference through the grant, which will be given to students from Wales studying at universities in Wales, England, Scotland or Northern Ireland.

It will NOT be means tested.

Does that mean Assembly Government money is being used to subsidise the education sector in England? Yes ... but by letting universities in Wales raise their fees to £9,000, there'll be money flowing the other way too.

So far, so giving with one hand and giving with the other. Where's the hand that is taking away to pay for this "Welsh solution?"

Aha - there it is. Much of the funding to pay for what is a very good deal for students will come from top slicing the teaching grant currently earmarked as funding for Welsh universities.

Students who were in the Senedd are cock-a-hoop ... on behalf of students who live in Wales and have done for three years. Less cock-a-hoop when they consider that students who live in England, say and come here to study will have to pay a whole lot more in future.

If you come from France, incidentally, or any EU member state and want to study at a Welsh university, you'll get the same deal as students who live in Wales. You can't discriminate against a student from another member state. You can discriminate against a student from within the same member state.

Let's see what the Vice Chancellors - wherever they live - make of it all.

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