Transcript Tuition fees and access to higher education

Tuition fees and access to higher
education
John Rushforth
Deputy Director
HE in England
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14
39
198
Universities
General HE colleges
Specialist HE colleges
FE colleges providing HE courses
Participation Rate Is Relatively Low
)
80
70
60
Entry rate
50
40
30
20
10
0
New
Zealand
Sw eden
Australia
Iceland
Korea3
United
Kingdom
Italy2
Japan3
Country
Net entry rates to tertiary type A (1st degree or equivalent
Source OECD Education at a Glance 2003
Austria
Germany2
998,000 FTEs
Postgraduate full-time 5%
Postgraduate
part-time 6%
Undergraduate
part-time 15%
Undergraduate full-time 74%
Social Class Gap Is Wide and Persistent
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
1940
1950
1960
1970
M ore Affluent social classes
1980
Less Affluent social classes
1990
2000
All Classes
2001
From 2006-07
• No up-front tuition fees
• Government pays the tuition fee to the
HE institution initially
• Government recovers the fee after
graduation
• Tuition fees can vary from £0 to £3,000
Repayments
• Tuition fees repaid alongside any maintenance loan
• Student maintenance loans – to £4000
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Collected through the payroll, like tax
Salary threshold increased to £15,000 from 2005-06
Repayment rate: 9% of excess income
Zero real rate of interest
• Students from low income families get £2700
grant
Why do all this?
• Put more income into HE
• Fairer sharing of the cost between
graduate, graduate’s family and the
taxpayer
• Increase influence of student demand on
teaching quality
• Put more control with institutions
Why OFFA
• Risk that potential students will
– Be concerned about debt
– Perceive that higher education is not affordable
• Something needed to safeguard and promote
access
• An expectation that some variable fees will be
invested in financial support for students
What is OFFA for
• Regulate the charging of higher tuition fees (but
only FT UG)
• Promote and safeguard fair access to HE
• Identify good practice in the promotion of
equality of access to higher education
• But mustn’t interfere with academic freedom
OFFA’s levers
• Access agreement –
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Bursaries
Outreach
Financial Information
Objectives
Public documents
Advice
Publicity
Fines
Prohibition
OFFA
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Requirements
Expect more from those with furthest to go
Additionality
Ambitious milestones
Collaborative outreach
Monitoring
Communication
HEI fee limits from 2006
100.00%
92.92%
90.00%
80.00%
70.00%
60.00%
50.00%
40.00%
30.00%
20.00%
10.00%
1.77%
2.65%
0.88%
0.88%
0.88%
£2,700
£2,500
£2,250
£2,000
variable
0.00%
£3,000
This is based on 109 HEIs
Bursary levels for students eligible for full state support from 2006
£3,500
£3,000
Bursary level
£2,500
£2,000
£1,500
£1,000
£500
£0
This represents the minimum that insitutions w il be offering to students on full state support, many w ill offer more through additional criteria, scholarships etc
What will impact of fees be
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There is data on the fear of debt
More generous student support package
More places
More communication
More outreach
Data on the initial introduction of tuition fees, and
on the international experience, is encouraging
Introduction of fees did not affect entry
choices
Will this deliver fair access
• Once prior attainment is sufficiently-well taken
into account socio-economic background does
not have an independent effect on HE
participation.
• The substantial social class inequality in HE
occurs largely as a result of inequalities earlier in
the education system.
A-level point score
Participation in HE at age 18 by A-level point
score and parents’ SEG
36
1-12
32
63
13-24
60
74
25+
76
0
20
40
60
Percent
lower
SEG
higher
SEG
Source: DfES. Calculated from Youth Cohort Study data.
80
100
Key Elements for Widening Participation
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Increased supply
Effective outreach programme
New modes of delivery
Maintain retention rates
Institutional strategies for widening participation
Fair admissions
Increased investment
Funding
• £282 million to institutions in 2005-06:
– £51 million outreach
– £11 million for disabled students
– £220 million for retention
• Distributed on the basis of risk
• £72 M for Aimhigher
Summary
• English HE faces a long term complex problem
• We have put in place a system which tries to
balance the contributions of the state, students
and parents
• OFFA has provided assurance
• We have a lot more to do before the profile of
the HE student body fully reflects that of society
at large