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Impact on student demand of tuition fees and changes in HE student support

Summary

HEFCE commissioned this review in 2001 of the literature on the impact of introducing means-tested contributions to tuition fees for full-time undergraduates from 1998-99. The aim was to provide evidence to assist its ongoing assessment of future levels of student demand for higher education, and of the scope for increasing demand through widening access.

The review found it necessary to consider evidence about the whole package of changes to financial support arrangements introduced from 1998-99, including the ending of maintenance grants.

Findings and implications of this material are reviewed under three main headings:

• evidence about the propensity of young people from the lowest socio-economic groups to enter higher education and the factors affecting that propensity, including their view of the costs and potential benefits of participating in higher education, the financial support for meeting those costs, and parental attitudes

• evidence about student hardship

• evidence about non-payment of fees and drop-out.

Literature on relevant issues was also reviewed from other countries, particularly the US and Australia.

The report made the following key policy recommendations:

• given the evidence of the marked reluctance of these young people to meet some of their costs through taking out substantial loans, part of the solution must be to replace some of these loans by grants

• for institutions the task is to provide ways of ensuring early on that potential students are aware of what the institution can offer and the benefits that accrue to graduates. They also need to take any available opportunities to enhance the understanding of potential students of the financial support available and of the costs. Once students are admitted, the challenge to institutions is to provide appropriate support to ensure that the students from the lowest socio-economic groups complete their course successfully. Successful completion is likely to provide the best kind of positive feedback to those coming up behind. HEFCE, in its allocation of funds, needs to recognise these various links in the chain if those from the lowest socio-economic groups are to be attracted in larger numbers into higher education.

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Last updated 4 September 2003