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Hundreds of thousands of students from low income backgrounds set to benefit from over £300 million extra 'free cash' set aside by universities and colleges

Around 400,000 students from low income backgrounds [1] are expected to benefit from £300 million non-repayable cash to support them through university or college it was revealed today by Sir Martin Harris, the Director of the Office for Fair Access (OFFA) as he announced approval of the first 118 access agreements from universities and colleges.

According to Sir Martin Harris, OFFA’s approval of institutions’ plans on access agreements will mean that from 2006, a student from a low income background could expect to receive around £11,000 in non-repayable cash [2] (in the form of a bursary and maintenance grant), over the course of the three years they are studying for a full time degree. This would be up to three times as much ‘free money’ in a student’s pocket whilst they are studying compared to what a student from a low income background receives now. Some particularly well qualified applicants could receive up to as much as £20,000.

All universities and colleges in England planning to raise their tuition fees above the standard level from 2006 are required to submit access agreements to OFFA for approval. These agreements show how they will invest some of their additional income from fees into attracting applications from students from low income groups – through bursary and other financial support and outreach work.

All those universities and colleges who have submitted agreements have responded positively to the fair access agenda, committing themselves to providing a diverse and varied range of bursaries across the board often at very generous levels. The support on offer ranges from cash bursaries, through scholarship schemes and subject specific bursaries to schemes which are targeted at, for example, disabled athletes, those leaving care, postgraduate students from low income backgrounds, or for part time or mature students.

A further £35 million of additional fee income has also been invested by institutions in outreach activities.

All institutions charging full fee of £3,000 are providing more than the minimum bursary requirement of £300. Initial analysis carried out by OFFA shows that around 82 per cent of institutions are also offering bursaries to students whose residual family income is between £15,000 to £22,000 [3], while 70 per cent are offering bursaries to students with income thresholds of up to £33,000.

A handful of institutions go beyond this and are providing support for those students with a residual family income above £33,000.

The OFFA analysis also shows:

  • A typical bursary is around £1,000 [4] (see graph 5, below)
  • Around 91 per cent of HEIs and FECs are planning to charge the full tuition fee of £3,000 (see graph 1, below).
  • The majority of institutions plan to set aside between 20 and 30 per cent of their additional fee income into bursaries and other forms of financial support.
  • Around 35 per cent of institutions plan to set up new scholarship schemes based on academic merit, ranging from around £500 – £5000. Some of these schemes are aimed exclusively at lower income groups, whilst the majority (62 per cent) are awarded purely on merit.
  • Just over 10 per cent of institutions plan to give out subject specific bursaries with awards ranging from £250 to £5,700 [5].

It is up to institutions how they pay the bursaries to students. The majority have said they will be paid to students in cash, but some will be in kind, either in addition to cash bursaries or as standalone offerings. For example, some students could expect to receive travel passes, laptops, vouchers for bikes, sports centre passes and art equipment.

Sir Martin Harris, Director of OFFA, said:

‘I am delighted to be able to announce the approval of all access agreements submitted to OFFA by 4 January 2005 and a significant number submitted subsequently. Universities and colleges are clearly showing their strong commitment to ensuring that all those who have the potential to benefit from higher education have the opportunity to do so.

‘This is the first time the sector has seen such investment in bursary provision across the board on anything approaching this scale. The autonomy of universities and colleges has resulted in a strong variety of bursary packages tailored to the circumstances of students and of institutions; they have been both creative and generous in what they plan to offer students who are less well off. The amount that has been set aside for bursaries has significantly more than exceeded my original expectation of £200 million – a great tribute to the hard work which has been put in by institutions to ensure that no applicant to higher education from an under-represented group is deterred on financial grounds.

‘The additional £35 million investment in outreach activities is also a significant step in the further development of institutions’ ambitious programmes of broadening access to higher education.

‘Let’s not forget that today’s announcement is in addition to the massive contribution that institutions are already making to the widening participation agenda and the new commitments of particular universities and colleges need to be viewed in the light of their own circumstances.’

Ivor Crewe, Universities UK President, said:

‘Universities UK applauds the diversity of the support packages UK higher education institutions have developed to underline their commitment to widening participation. We work to ensure that the cost of studying should not preclude anyone who has the ability to do so from entering university. Universities UK is confident that the removal of upfront fees, together with higher levels of grants and loans, will encourage more students from disadvantaged backgrounds to apply to university.

‘Universities and colleges have been working hard for many years to deliver initiatives for widening access through outreach work with key stakeholders, including FE colleges and schools. The support arrangements revealed today, alongside the hard work already being done, will further enhance the sector’s progress in bringing in students from lower socio-economic groups.’

Graphs showing fee limits and bursary levels

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Footnotes

  1. Students who have a family income under £33,000 per annum and are entitled to full or partial state support. In 2006-07, HEFCE estimates that there will be 825,000 HEFCE fundable full time and sandwich home and EU students studying at English higher education and further education institutions. The DfES expects that in 2006 around 30 per cent of these students will get full state support and 50-55 per cent, a full or partial grant. This information can be found in the DfES publication ‘Moving towards a single combined grant for HE’, 19 January 2004 – available from the DfES website.
  2. Includes maintenance grant of £2,700 a year, plus a ‘typical’ bursary of £1,000 a year. This does not include other loans and it refers to those students eligible for full state support (i.e those students with a residual family income of below approximately £15,200).
  3. These levels are approximate and are based on current government threshold levels. Some of these awards are actually made to a threshold level of around £25,000.
  4. Most bursaries will be awarded on a sliding scale, but some will be flat rate.
  5. Half of the institutions have given details of subject areas. Of these, 3 mention subject shortage areas such as Engineering, Chemistry, Maths, European Languages etc. Other bursaries are for Art, Medicine, Law and Business.

 

Notes to editors

I.    All approved access agreements can now be viewed on the OFFA website.

II.   Today’s announcement is based on 120 access agreements assessed by OFFA up to 4 March 2005.

III.  The Office for Fair Access (OFFA) is an independent, non departmental public body which aims to promote and safeguard fair access to higher education for under-represented groups in light of the introduction of variable tuition fees in 2006-07. OFFA is led by the Director of Fair Access, Sir Martin Harris.

IV.   For further information on other forms of student support visit http://www.aimhigher.ac.uk.

V.    Photographs of Sir Martin Harris, Director of OFFA, are available.

 


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