tag:theconversation.com,2011:/us/topics/tuition-fees-15255/articlestuition fees – The Conversation2024-02-19T13:36:32Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2235312024-02-19T13:36:32Z2024-02-19T13:36:32ZFAFSA website meltdown: How to avoid additional frustration with financial aid applications<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/576239/original/file-20240216-16-d8twal.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=8%2C0%2C5455%2C3628&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Some colleges are extending the traditional May 1 deadline for students to accept offers.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/woman-with-digital-tablet-having-problems-royalty-free-image/832996896?phrase=paying+for+college+stressed+out&adppopup=true">valentinrussanov via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>When Congress passed the <a href="https://studentaid.gov/help-center/answers/article/fafsa-simplification-act">FAFSA Simplification Act in 2020</a>, it was touted as making it easier for more families to access the government funding they need to send their children to college. But as recent events have shown, it actually <a href="https://www.chronicle.com/article/frustration-all-around-the-fafsas-rocky-rollout">made things more complicated, frustrating and confusing</a>.</p>
<p>While the new federal student aid form – known as the FAFSA – is <a href="https://www.forbes.com/advisor/student-loans/fafsa-changes-what-you-need-to-know/#:%7E:text=The%20new%20FAFSA%20application%20requires,one%20has%20less%20than%2050.">much shorter and requires less manual entry</a> of tax information, there were glitches and delays in rolling it out, as with many new websites.</p>
<p>Initially, families could access the FAFSA only for a limited time during a “<a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/admissions/traditional-age/2024/01/03/fafsa-soft-launch-vexes-families-and-counselors">soft launch” period in December</a>.</p>
<p>Now the form is accessible to families for them to complete, but the data is not flowing out to schools and colleges. Applicants are also discovering another problem. Often, students and parents may need to consult other documents or each other as part of the application process, so they will pause their application to complete it later. However, after initially logging into the FAFSA website, many students and parents experienced difficulty when returning to finalize their submission. The simplified FAFSA application has been online since the end of December, but users are still <a href="https://fsapartners.ed.gov/knowledge-center/topics/fafsa-simplification-information/2024-25-fafsa-issue-alerts">experiencing some problems</a>.</p>
<p>The Department of Education’s student aid calculations have also been delayed as it incorporates a <a href="https://financialaidtoolkit.ed.gov/tk/announcement-detail.jsp?id=fafsa-changes-student-aid-index">new formula</a> intended to expand eligibility for financial aid. The department also <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2023/12/01/fafsa-income-allowance-protection-calculation-error/">made an error</a> in the formula when adjusting for inflation. The calculations used for the determination of aid eligibility had been based on outdated consumer price index rules from 2020 but have since been corrected. All of this has delayed sending aid calculations to schools. </p>
<p>As a <a href="https://drexel.edu/news/archive/2023/November/Dawn-Medley-to-join-Drexel-as-SVP-for-Enrollment-Management">longtime college administrator</a> who has developed programs to improve access to higher education, I see this situation as a well-intentioned but poorly executed effort. Ultimately, I believe the changes to FAFSA will help more students realize their dream of earning a degree, but this year I’m afraid it may cause many to abandon it.</p>
<p>To better understand the situation and what might come next, it helps to know how the government and schools work together to provide financial aid.</p>
<h2>Measuring ability to pay</h2>
<p>The Department of Education <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/102nd-congress/senate-bill/1150">created the Free Application for Federal Student Aid in 1992</a> to determine how much the federal government believes a family can contribute for a child’s college education. To be eligible for <a href="https://studentaid.gov/understand-aid/types/grants/pell">Pell Grants</a>, <a href="https://studentaid.gov/understand-aid/types/work-study">federal work-study</a> or even <a href="https://studentaid.gov/help-center/answers/article/how-to-apply-for-federal-student-loan">student loans</a>, students and families must complete the FAFSA. </p>
<p>Submitting the FAFSA prompts the Department of Education to set the amount it will offer in loans and other federal funding. The department then sends that information to the schools to which a student has applied. From there, the schools determine what additional financial aid they can provide. The schools make a final offer of financial assistance, called an award notice or award letter, to prospective students. Typically, this process takes a couple of months, and students <a href="https://www.forbes.com/advisor/student-loans/financial-aid-award-letter/">can expect to receive their award letter</a> from schools by the end of March, depending on when they filled out the FAFSA.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/lXY5GBumXcc?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">What happens after submitting your FAFSA form?</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>On Feb. 13, 2024, the Department of Education announced <a href="https://www.chronicle.com/article/amid-fafsa-delays-education-dept-will-reduce-verification-requirements-for-aid-applicants">a temporary fix</a> intended to shorten the department’s application review process, which would enable schools to make their offers sooner.</p>
<h2>Extensions granted</h2>
<p>In the meantime, some institutions have taken steps to alleviate stress and provide more clarity to applicants. Many schools have chosen to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2024/02/14/dc-colleges-extend-admissions-deadline-fafsa-delay/">extend students’ time</a> to accept their offer, moving from the traditional deadline of May 1, which is known as <a href="https://www.forbes.com/advisor/education/student-resources/college-decision-day/#:%7E:text=Each%20year%2C%20National%20Decision%20Day,might%20enforce%20different%20decision%20deadlines.">National Decision Day</a>, to May 15 or even June 1. </p>
<p>Some have created their own <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/08/business/fafsa-delays-financial-aid.html">mini FAFSA application</a> to shortcut the aid application process; others are using their own aid calculators. Drexel University, where I oversee financial aid, has decided to forgo the FAFSA process and make a final offer based on another profile on a platform called <a href="https://cssprofile.collegeboard.org/">College Scholarship Service</a> that applicants complete.</p>
<p>None of these solutions is perfect. My peers and I are concerned that the frustration and confusion will lead students, <a href="https://www.the74million.org/article/fafsa-delays-raise-concerns-some-students-will-miss-out-on-college-aid/">particularly those who are the first in their families</a> to go to college, to walk away from higher education altogether.</p>
<p>Students and families should now expect schools to communicate regularly, provide clear and concise information, and encourage students to fill out both a College Scholarship Service profile and a FAFSA if they haven’t already. The financial aid process is complicated, but it’s the responsibility of schools to distill it into a set of simple steps for their applicants.</p>
<h2>Practical tips</h2>
<p>Here are a few tips for students and their families going though this process right now:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>Families should communicate with schools to see whether they are able to receive official offers based on net price calculators, College Scholarship Service profiles or school-created solutions. Students can do this via the schools’ websites, texting, email or even phoning. </p></li>
<li><p>If families do not have a guaranteed award from a school, they should ask for a deposit deadline extension so they have the full information they need to make a decision.</p></li>
<li><p>Institutions want to assist and support students through this period of uncertainty, so don’t be afraid to ask questions and stay in touch with the experts who have the most updated information.</p></li>
</ul><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/223531/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dawn Medley does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A college administrator offers insights into the rocky rollout of the Department of Education’s supposedly ‘simplified’ financial aid form.Dawn Medley, Senior Vice President of Enrollment Management, Drexel UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2133382023-09-18T20:05:35Z2023-09-18T20:05:35ZInternational students are not to blame for Canada’s housing crisis<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/548571/original/file-20230915-27-9r8lj2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C10%2C6720%2C4456&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Blaming international students for Canada's problems distracts attention away from finding genuine solutions.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/international-students-are-not-to-blame-for-canadas-housing-crisis" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>At the start of the new academic school year, around 30 students at Canadore College in North Bay, Ont. <a href="https://www.baytoday.ca/local-news/homeless-international-students-protesting-at-canadore-college-7499719">held a protest</a> to decry the lack of accommodation provided to international students. </p>
<p>The protesters were demanding help from the college either to provide affordable accommodations, relocation to other campuses, online classes or a refund of the tuition they’d paid.</p>
<p>About <a href="https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/canada-international-students-housing">25 international students at Canadore College</a> slept in a tent on the side of a road because they were unable to find decent, affordable housing. The college eventually met the demands of these students, but others in North Bay and across Canada continue to struggle to find decent and affordable places to live while they study.</p>
<p>In total, approximately <a href="https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/punjab/accommodation-blues-for-more-than-300-international-students-in-canada-541957">300 international students</a> are struggling to find accommodation at Canadore and Nipissing University, also in North Bay. </p>
<p>Sadly, this situation is not unique, and it comes at a time when international students are being scapegoated for causing Canada’s <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/british-columbia/article-western-canada-flow-of-international-students-worsening-housing-crisis/">housing crisis</a>, <a href="https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/nri/us-canada-news/indian-canadians-say-international-students-stealing-their-jobs/articleshow/64920227.cms">stealing jobs</a> and causing <a href="https://www.universityaffairs.ca/opinion/in-my-opinion/the-downside-of-canadas-addiction-to-international-student-money/">inequalities in education</a>. </p>
<h2>Students treated like commodities</h2>
<p>In August, Housing, Infrastructure and Communities Minister Sean Fraser said the government was <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/fraser-international-students-housing-1.6943009">considering placing a cap on international students</a> to ease pressure off the housing market. Despite this blame game, the facts show how reliant Canada is on international students.</p>
<p>In 2023, Canadian post-secondary institutions are expected to welcome <a href="https://www.thestar.com/opinion/editorials/an-influx-of-international-students-is-straining-the-system-but-don-t-blame-the-students/article_69eabba8-cdff-5aa0-adb9-b1277f8602dc.html">around 900,000 international students</a>, compared to <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/marc-miller-international-students-stigmatization-1.6959645">about 240,000 international students</a> in 2011. Universities and colleges have long sought <a href="https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/201008/dq201008b-eng.htm">international students</a> as lucrative sources of revenue. Higher education institutions often charge international students <a href="https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/220907/dq220907b-eng.htm">three to five times more in tuition fees</a> than Canadians. </p>
<p>Unsurprisingly, universities have <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/9925737/international-students-canada-universities/">voiced their opposition</a> to a cap that could threaten their bottom line. Provinces and territories have remained cool to the idea while the Québec government has <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-quebec-rebuffs-ottawas-proposal-to-limit-student-visas-as-part-of/">rejected it</a>.</p>
<p>International students contribute <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/corporate/transparency/committees/cimm-mar-03-2022/international-students.html">more than $22.3 billion per year to the Canadian economy</a> and are a major source of the workforce and talent needed to replenish Canada’s aging population. </p>
<p>Canada has presented itself as a destination of choice for international students for years. Yet, while international students are constructed as ideal professional migrants, they are treated as a commodity to fund Canada’s post-secondary institutions and tackle the labour shortage.</p>
<h2>Students blamed for the government’s faults</h2>
<p>Fraser also suggested that a cap would help to resolve the <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/international-student-cap-immigration-system-integrity-1.6948733">under-housing and victimization of international students</a>. International students renting in Canada often experience all kinds of abuse when trying to find housing. This abuse includes <a href="https://www.thestar.com/business/foreign-students-face-a-wave-of-rental-ripoffs-as-landlords-illegally-demand-up-to-six/article_8f238de7-f067-5ca6-9646-aa6f7e33c5f4.html">price gouging</a>, <a href="https://torontolife.com/real-estate/adventures-real-estate-toronto-york-university-student-rental-abuse/">invasion of privacy</a>, <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/international-students-crime-reporting-1.6709423">sexual harassment</a>, <a href="https://www.bramptonguardian.com/news/crime/brampton-man-sentenced-to-7-years-for-sexual-assault-forcible-confinement-of-international-student-from/article_5205a0d2-b3e5-52b0-8be4-9a4b3704db1f.html">assault</a>, <a href="https://vancouversun.com/opinion/columnists/douglas-todd-female-foreign-students-endure-harassment-exploitation">exploitation</a> and <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/sudbury/int-students-rooming-house-rental-problem-1.6463773">illegally low living standards</a>. Some international students have also died in <a href="https://thepienews.com/news/cape-breton-international-student-dies-in-fire/">house fires</a>, overcrowded houses or through <a href="https://pressprogress.ca/international-students-dying-canada-federal-government-20230202/">suicide</a>.</p>
<p>Yet, it is because of the actions of previous governments that international students find themselves in this position. When provinces started to <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/international-student-timeline-1.6947913">deregulate tuition fees</a> for international students in the 1980s, post-secondary institutions found a new source of revenue and an incentive to attract as many as they could.</p>
<p>In addition, since the early 2000s the federal government has <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/corporate/reports-statistics/evaluations/international-student-program-2010/background.html">created policies</a> designed to bring international students to Canada. These include enabling international students to work in Canada during and after their studies and eventually apply to become permanent residents. </p>
<p>Canada’s leaders encouraged international students to come here. And Canada’s leaders are now trying to blame them for a crisis that is not their fault. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/548569/original/file-20230915-29-txfkdc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A large domed building in front of a green lawn with Toronto's CN Tower in the background." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/548569/original/file-20230915-29-txfkdc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/548569/original/file-20230915-29-txfkdc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/548569/original/file-20230915-29-txfkdc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/548569/original/file-20230915-29-txfkdc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/548569/original/file-20230915-29-txfkdc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/548569/original/file-20230915-29-txfkdc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/548569/original/file-20230915-29-txfkdc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Canada presents itself as a prime destination for international students to fund Canada’s post-secondary institutions and tackle the labour shortage.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Easy targets</h2>
<p>International students are an easy target for scapegoating. Many are <a href="https://theconversation.com/international-students-face-exploitation-in-canada-and-abroad-202599">temporary migrants with little political or economic power</a>. The scapegoating of immigrants is based on the logic that, by increasing demand for housing, they are exacerbating the housing crisis.</p>
<p>However, there is <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/housing-crisis-immigration-1.6878540">much more</a> at play than <a href="https://www.ctvnews.ca/business/rent-across-canada-climbs-to-20-per-cent-above-pandemic-lows-report-1.6429496">newcomer demands on housing</a>. Blaming migrants and international students draws attention away from the role of developers, municipal zoning laws and Canadian governments in perpetuating the housing crisis. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/student-housing-crisis-municipal-bylaws-have-created-roadblocks-for-decades-212222">Student housing crisis: Municipal bylaws have created roadblocks for decades</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Due to their precarious legal status in Canada, very few international students speak out, <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/international-students-crime-reporting-1.6709423">fearing that doing so might hurt their chances to remain in Canada</a>.</p>
<p>Governments and post-secondary institutions that admit international students have a moral duty to them once they’re in Canada. It is unacceptable that students who are made to pay exorbitant tuition fees are ending up <a href="https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/canada-international-students-housing">homeless</a> and living in tents, <a href="https://www.bramptonguardian.com/news/crime/brampton-man-sentenced-to-7-years-for-sexual-assault-forcible-confinement-of-international-student-from/article_5205a0d2-b3e5-52b0-8be4-9a4b3704db1f.html">sexually assaulted</a> or even <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/india-student-repatriation-bodies-mental-health-1.6815961">dead</a>. </p>
<p>The demonization and xenophobia have gone too far and the scapegoating of international students has to end. International students and immigrants are not the cause of Canada’s problems. If anything, it is their money, talents and hard work that Canada relies on. </p>
<p>The housing crisis is a serious problem that requires serious solutions, and politicians need to stop playing the blame game.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/213338/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lilach Marom receives funding from SFU Small SSHRC (September 2023) to develop a research project exploring the education-migration of Punjabi international students in Canada.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tania Das Gupta has received funding from Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) in the past. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Soma Chatterjee and Yvonne Su do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>International students frequently face challenges finding suitable places to live. Instead of blaming them, the government should be helping them.Yvonne Su, Assistant Professor in the Department of Equity Studies, York University, CanadaLilach Marom, Assistant Professor, Education, Simon Fraser UniversitySoma Chatterjee, Associate Professor of Social Work, Associate Member, Interdisciplinary Studies, Faculty of Liberal Arts and Professional Studies, York University, CanadaTania Das Gupta, Professor, School of Gender, Sexuality and Women's Studies, York University, CanadaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2046712023-06-08T12:28:49Z2023-06-08T12:28:49ZCost and lack of majors are among the top reasons why students leave for-profit colleges<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530677/original/file-20230607-19-4hpib6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=25%2C142%2C8621%2C5613&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Students who attend for-profit colleges on average have higher student loan debt than those who attend public institutions.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/female-university-students-studying-royalty-free-image/1389976884?phrase=for+profit+college&adppopup=true">FatCamera via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>For the <a href="https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED618012.pdf">majority of students</a>, the college where they enroll is often the one from where they will graduate. But not so for the approximately <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/TrendGenerator/app/answer/2/4">1 million students who transfer each year</a> from one school to another. Of these 1 million, <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/TrendGenerator/app/answer/2/4?f=1%3D3">about 100,000 students transfer</a> from one of the <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=1122">approximately 2,300 for-profit</a> universities that exist in the U.S. That’s a sizable portion of the <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/indicator/cha/undergrad-enrollment">approximately 777,000 students</a> who attend for-profit colleges.</p>
<p>As <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=dGUoEiAAAAAJ&hl=en">researchers</a> who <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=uZ06NAUAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">specialize in higher education</a>, we are especially interested in why students leave for-profit universities. These schools have been criticized for <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaeltnietzel/2021/10/08/the-ftc-takes-new-aim-at-deceptive-for-profit-colleges/">deceptive recruiting practices</a>, being <a href="https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/pdf/10.17310/ntj.2012.1.06?casa_token=OjUw_dCAQ60AAAAA:Lm8qBtC3q6lpKYHyAYsyaPRJuNBnJo-d0-XUbLFeIK4Qtk51n_LLu_fWjhfcKa8AFLp1v8y7QPJq">overpriced</a> and <a href="https://www.edworkingpapers.com/sites/default/files/ai21-398.pdf">failing to adequately prepare graduates for well-paying jobs</a>.</p>
<p>In an effort to better understand the reasons behind the transfers, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/15210251231161828">we interviewed 12 students</a> who transferred from a private for-profit to a public university in the fall of 2021. Below are four main themes that emerged from our conversations.</p>
<h2>1. Too expensive</h2>
<p>Affordability came up repeatedly among the students we interviewed. A quarter said attending a for-profit initially seemed less expensive than a public university option. However, after they enrolled, the costs went up. They initially received a scholarship from the for-profit but did not realize it was only for the first year and nonrenewable. Their experiences are not unusual. Financial aid offers are often <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/12/07/financial-aid-gao-report/">vague about the total costs</a> that students are expected to pay. </p>
<p>Half of those we interviewed also shared that despite receiving some institutional scholarships, they had to take out loans to cover the balance. As they watched their debt grow, particularly in cases in which their initial scholarships expired, they realized transferring to a public university would be cheaper. </p>
<p>Their experiences are consistent with national trends that show college students who attend for-profits are more likely to have student loan debt - with higher balances - than people enrolled at other types of schools. A 2019 study found that <a href="https://edworkingpapers.com/sites/default/files/ai21-398.pdf">74% of full-time students who attended for-profit colleges</a> had outstanding loans, compared to 21% at community college and 47% at four‐year public schools. On an annual basis, for‐profit students borrowed about $8,000, compared to the average community college student’s debt of approximately $4,700 and four‐year public student average of $7,000. </p>
<p>As of the 2020-2021 academic year, the <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/indicator/cua">average net cost of attendance</a> at for-profit institutions was $24,600, while it was $14,700 at public institutions.</p>
<h2>2. Lack of majors</h2>
<p>About half of those we interviewed transferred in part because their original school did not offer their desired major. Some initially chose the for-profit for reasons like convenient location, easy admission process or perceived affordability. Later they realized none of the majors offered were exactly what they wanted. For others, their interests shifted over time.</p>
<p>For-profit universities mainly offer majors that are <a href="https://www.booksfree.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/EARNING-FROM-LEARNING-THE-RISE-OF-FOR-PROFIT-David-W-Breneman-Brian-Pusser-Sarah-E-Turner.pdf#page=68">vocationally oriented and do not cost much to teach</a>, such as business, engineering-related technologies and health professions. Nonprofit institutions tend to have more diverse offerings. </p>
<p>We found that before deciding to transfer, most students asked their academic advisors to help identify alternative majors. Though this may seem like a good idea, the reality is many for-profit universities, in an effort to keep revenue flowing, often <a href="https://tressiemc.com/uncategorized/how-admissions-works-differently-at-for-profit-colleges-sorting-and-signaling/">direct their employees to find ways to keep students enrolled</a>. </p>
<p>Indeed, several students told us their advisors recommended staying and switching to a different major rather than exploring options at other schools that may better align with their interests. The advisor for one aspiring lawyer initially suggested the for-profit’s justice studies major. After taking introductory courses, the student realized justice studies was intended for future law enforcement officers, not lawyers. The advisor then placed her in the university’s government program, which was also not a good fit.</p>
<p>The student independently researched the best majors for future lawyers and determined that political science would be the best preparation. Since the for-profit university did not have a political science program, she transferred to a public university. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Several college students shown from behind carrying backpacks." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530707/original/file-20230607-9278-bn46kk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530707/original/file-20230607-9278-bn46kk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530707/original/file-20230607-9278-bn46kk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530707/original/file-20230607-9278-bn46kk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530707/original/file-20230607-9278-bn46kk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530707/original/file-20230607-9278-bn46kk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530707/original/file-20230607-9278-bn46kk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Students report that lack of majors and limited course offerings were among the reasons they left for-profit colleges.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/male-and-female-adult-students-walking-at-campus-royalty-free-image/1171000142?phrase=college+students+&adppopup=true">Klaus Vedfelt via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>3. Inflexible schedules</h2>
<p>Unlike students at nonprofit and public universities, students at for-profit universities don’t get to pick the classes they take. Students are enrolled in courses each term by their academic advisors without much choice over the course’s topical focus, the professor who’ll teach it or the day and time that the class is taught.</p>
<p>The predetermined structure of for-profit degree programs <a href="https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED547411.pdf">appeals to some students</a>, such as those with caretaking responsibilities or inflexible work schedules. However, we found the practice also motivated many to transfer. While they valued advisors’ input, the students we interviewed wanted more transparency, control and freedom over their schedules, instructors and course topics. </p>
<h2>4. Questions of quality</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.thirdway.org/report/paying-more-for-less-a-new-classification-system-to-prioritize-outcomes-in-higher-education">Scholars</a> and <a href="https://www.help.senate.gov/ranking/newsroom/press/harkin-report-reveals-troubling-realities-of-for-profit-schools">policymakers</a> have long called the quality of for-profit colleges into question. However, only two students we interviewed mentioned quality as a reason for transferring. They had concerns that instructors were inexperienced and courses were too easy.</p>
<p>The Biden administration recently proposed new <a href="https://www.ed.gov/news/press-releases/department-education-releases-proposed-rules-accountability-certificate-and-profit-programs-and-transparency-unaffordable-student-debt">rules</a>, referred to as gainful employment regulations, aimed at ensuring degrees lead to positive employment outcomes for graduates. The rules would revoke the ability of schools to offer students federal financial aid <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/government/student-aid-policy/2023/05/18/new-stronger-gainful-employment-regs-released">if graduates’ student loan payments exceed 8% of their income or 20% of their discretionary income</a>. The U.S. Department of Education states that <a href="https://www2.ed.gov/policy/highered/reg/hearulemaking/2021/gainful-employment-and-transparency-fact-sheet.pdf?utm_content=&utm_medium=email&utm_name=&utm_source=govdelivery&utm_term=">the objective</a> is to “ensure quality and accountability in postsecondary education.”</p>
<h2>Here’s what students can do</h2>
<p>To avoid the potential pitfalls associated with for-profit colleges, we suggest a few options that students can explore prior to enrollment.</p>
<p>They may want to pay special attention to academic program structure, costs and quality. Seeking information from sources unaffiliated with any specific university is a good strategy. The Bureau of Labor Statistics’ <a href="https://www.bls.gov/ooh/">Occupational Outlook Handbook</a> has good information about majors that lead to different jobs. Schools that do not offer the degrees in majors that lead to a student’s desired career should be avoided.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://collegescorecard.ed.gov/">College Scorecard</a>, an online tool provided by the Department of Education, lets people search for schools according to majors offered, location and other criteria. With this information, the scorecard provides earnings and student debt data of recent graduates. </p>
<p>Students should also pay close attention to the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/12/07/financial-aid-gao-report/">fine print of financial aid packages</a>. Especially, students should ask explicitly whether scholarship offers are renewable. If the answer is yes, it pays to clearly understand the criteria required in order to maintain eligibility.</p>
<p>If scholarships are not renewable, students should account for this when estimating the overall cost of attending the school over the expected span of time it takes to earn a degree. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/15210251231161828">Our research shows</a> that for-profit institutions may be less affordable in the long run than they initially appear. Conversely, nonprofit institutions that initially seem more expensive than for-profit institutions may be more affordable over the course of a student’s degree.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/204671/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Thomas Zimmerman is affiliated with New Jersey Office of the Secretary of Higher Education. His position in the office is not a political appointment, and his viewpoints expressed here are not to be taken to represent the positions of the agency.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Molly Ott does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Students told researchers that the cost of going to a for-profit college changed over time and eventually became too much to bear.Molly Ott, Associate Professor of Higher & Postsecondary Education, Arizona State UniversityThomas Zimmerman, PhD Candidate in Higher Education, Rutgers UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2064382023-05-31T20:00:12Z2023-05-31T20:00:12ZFrom Donald Trump to Danielle Smith: 4 ways populists are jeopardizing democracy<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/529348/original/file-20230531-21-ur28mw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=520%2C0%2C6418%2C4629&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Former U.S. president Donald Trump gives thumbs up as he watches during the first round of the LIV Golf Tournament at Trump National Golf Club in Sterling, Va.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Alex Brandon)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In 1954, <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1998/11/richard-hofstadters-tradition/377296/">Richard Hofstadter, the eminent American historian of modern conservatism</a>, asked a provocative question about <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/joseph-mccarthy-an-american-demagogue-who-foreshadowed-trump/2020/08/27/6d6f3c5c-dbfe-11ea-809e-b8be57ba616e_story.html">his era’s assault on progressive and left-wing ideals, known as McCarthyism</a>: Where did this extremism come from? </p>
<p>He argued in a <a href="https://theamericanscholar.org/the-pseudo-conservative-revolt/">celebrated essay</a> that even the prosperous, post-Second World War United States was not immune to the radicalism of authoritarian populism. The so-called Red Scare of the 1950s was “simply the old ultra-conservatism and the old isolationism heightened by the extraordinary pressures of the contemporary world.” </p>
<p>Seven decades later, Hofstadter’s words ring true again. Conservative movements are always fighting a rearguard action against modernity by falsely claiming to <a href="https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/europpblog/2022/07/19/borders-exclusion-and-the-populist-radical-right-meta-us/">protect society from progressives</a> who trample traditional values and sneer at the forgotten men and women who embrace them. </p>
<h2>Paranoid politics</h2>
<p>With so much money and power behind it, this paranoid style of politics — with its enemies lists, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/before-nemtsovs-assassination-a-year-of-demonization/2015/03/04/dc8f2afe-c11d-11e4-9ec2-b418f57a4a99_story.html">demonization of opposition leaders</a> and often violent language — has gone mainstream. </p>
<p>Conspiracy theories are no longer a stigma discrediting those who trade in salacious innuendo. Even mainstream politicians are now peddling them.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1658224143844646915"}"></div></p>
<p>But is there anything to fear from the red-hot rhetoric of the paranoid style of politics? Some argue these circumstances <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/cars.12263">are cyclical</a>.</p>
<p>In Hofstadter’s time, after all, American conservative politics turned away from fringe radicalism following the assassination of John F. Kennedy in 1963. The following year, Lyndon Johnson <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/United-States-presidential-election-of-1964">defeated right-wing Republican insurgent, Barry Goldwater</a> in one of the largest landslides in U.S. history.</p>
<p>But the crisis we face today is bigger in scale <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/24/books/review/dark-money-by-jane-mayer.html">and scope</a>. It’s been whipped to a frenzy by political leaders who seek to profit from the chaos that it incites via social media.</p>
<p>Populism was supposed to bring government closer to the people, but it actually places the levers of power <a href="https://reviewcanada.ca/magazine/2023/01/the-shill-of-the-people/">squarely in the hands of authoritarians</a>. Here are four ways populism has turned poisonous and poses existential threats to democracy:</p>
<h2>1. The shrinking middle ground</h2>
<p>Democracy without compromise erodes popular sovereignty by fragmenting the electorate and eliminating meaningful compromise.</p>
<p>We are now in a world of zero-sum political contests, with a shrinking <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2023/04/us-extremism-portland-george-floyd-protests-january-6/673088/">middle ground</a>. <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/alberta/article-ucp-proposes-referendums-for-all-tax-increases/">Conservative parties often force extreme referendums</a> to maintain their grip on a deeply divided electorate. </p>
<p>Election campaigns have become dangerous contests over <a href="https://www.populismstudies.org/Vocabulary/culture-war/">wedge issues</a> designed to deepen cultural divisions using social media.</p>
<p>We saw this with <a href="https://doi.org/10.1186/s40878-020-00208-y">Brexit as Boris Johnson and other populists stoked fears about immigration and Europeans</a>. Donald Trump did it well <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/stuartanderson/2020/08/26/fact-check-and-review-of-trump-immigration-policy/">with attacks on immigrants.</a> Republicans are now doubling down on the abortion issue, even though they’re facing pushback from <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/2nd-abortion-regulation-bill-vetoed-by-kansas-gov-laura-kelly">some state legislatures and governors</a>.</p>
<p>In Canada, Alberta’s Premier Danielle Smith, whose United Conservative Party has been newly re-elected with a majority, <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/opinion-ndp-notley-ucp-smith-attack-ads-1.6749431">has focused on demonizing her opponents</a> and has <a href="https://edmontonjournal.com/news/politics/alberta-government-attempts-clarification-as-ndp-calls-sovereignty-act-anti-democratic">engaged in anti-democratic conduct</a> in her months as premier.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/democracy-itself-is-on-the-ballot-in-albertas-upcoming-election-203817">Democracy itself is on the ballot in Alberta's upcoming election</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>2. The working class isn’t benefiting</h2>
<p>Identity politics isn’t empowering working people because the politics of revenge doesn’t fix structural problems. </p>
<p>Nevertheless, conservative parties around the world are marketing themselves as parties of the <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2023/03/working-class-white-voters-gop-house-agenda/673500/">working class</a>. </p>
<p>Populists recognize the <a href="https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2022/10/education-polarization-diploma-divide-democratic-party-working-class.html">working class is essential</a> to their success at the national level because of the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/17/opinion/education-american-politics.html">“diploma divide</a>” that now separates right and left. </p>
<p>There is a strong correlation between lacking a college diploma and supporting <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/may/14/who-are-national-conservatives-and-what-do-they-want">nationalist conservative movements</a> at election time.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A sea of university graduates in their convocation robes and caps inside an auditorium." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/529344/original/file-20230531-21-qxsqe8.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/529344/original/file-20230531-21-qxsqe8.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529344/original/file-20230531-21-qxsqe8.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529344/original/file-20230531-21-qxsqe8.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529344/original/file-20230531-21-qxsqe8.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=515&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529344/original/file-20230531-21-qxsqe8.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=515&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529344/original/file-20230531-21-qxsqe8.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=515&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Graduates listen during a convocation ceremony at Simon Fraser University, in Burnaby, B.C., in May 2022.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It used to be that working people recognized education as a path to prosperity. But <a href="https://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/paying-for-college/articles/see-20-years-of-tuition-growth-at-national-universities">massive tuition increases in the U.S.</a>, in particular, have betrayed the promise of universal access to a college degree.</p>
<p>Tuition fees are also heading in the wrong direction in <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/education-36150276">the U.K., Canada and Australia</a>. Education now reinforces class divisions rather than breaking down barriers to a better life.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-freedom-convoy-protesters-are-a-textbook-case-of-aggrieved-entitlement-176791">The 'freedom convoy' protesters are a textbook case of 'aggrieved entitlement'</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>3. The rich and powerful direct the chaos</h2>
<p>Populism was supposed to empower people outside the corridors of power, but talk of <a href="https://buffalonews.com/news/liberal-elites-are-at-war-with-u-s-tradition-of-moral-values/article_ba36235a-8518-5d32-8b6f-b392e1083ccf.html">retribution against liberal elites</a> normalizes calls for political violence — always a bad thing.</p>
<p>In a war of all against all, it’s not the wealthy who lose. It’s ordinary, hard-working citizens. </p>
<p>Furthermore, once a lust for vengeance takes hold in the general public, it’s almost always being directed by elites with money and power who benefit financially or politically from the chaos.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A woman wearing a 'team trump' cowboy hat carries an american flag. Behind her rioters confront police wearing riot gear." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/478349/original/file-20220809-16-zsokyh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/478349/original/file-20220809-16-zsokyh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478349/original/file-20220809-16-zsokyh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478349/original/file-20220809-16-zsokyh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478349/original/file-20220809-16-zsokyh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478349/original/file-20220809-16-zsokyh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478349/original/file-20220809-16-zsokyh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Violent protesters loyal to Donald Trump try to break through a police barrier at the Capitol in Washington on Jan. 6, 2021.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/John Minchillo)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>4. Assaults on the rule of law</h2>
<p>Authoritarian leaders have gained unprecedented <a href="https://www.oecd-forum.org/posts/spin-dictators-the-changing-face-of-tyranny-in-the-21st-century">institutional legitimacy</a> by building successful movements based on fantasies of blood and soil. The paranoid style of politics has entered a new phase with a full-spectrum assault on the rule of law — from inside government. </p>
<p>Populists are lying when they argue they want to empower the rest of us by divesting judges of their authority to oversee democracy. They really want to breach the strongest constitutional barrier against authoritarianism. </p>
<p>Look at the situation in Israel, where Benjamin Netanyahu’s extremist coalition seeks to destroy judicial checks and balances and allow the country’s parliament to <a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/netanyahu-in-weekend-interview-overhaul-necessary-as-supreme-court-too-powerful/">overrule its Supreme Court</a>, a move that would ease the prime minister’s legal woes.</p>
<p>Netanyahu has been charged with <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/4-corruption-scandals-swirling-around-benjamin-netanyahu-explained">corruption and influence peddling.</a> </p>
<p>Trump’s attempts to undermine the legitimacy of judges are equally self-serving. As he runs again for president, he’s already telegraphing his violent desires, <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-says-pardon-large-portion-jan-6-rioters-rcna83873">promising pardons for the Jan. 6 insurrectionists.</a></p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A sea of blue and white Israeli flags during a protest." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/517761/original/file-20230327-24-yeeq5y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/517761/original/file-20230327-24-yeeq5y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/517761/original/file-20230327-24-yeeq5y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/517761/original/file-20230327-24-yeeq5y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/517761/original/file-20230327-24-yeeq5y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/517761/original/file-20230327-24-yeeq5y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/517761/original/file-20230327-24-yeeq5y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Israelis protest against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s judicial overhaul plan outside the parliament in Jerusalem in March 2023.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The road ahead for populists</h2>
<p>The political dial is already spinning. The defeats of Trump and Brazil’s Jair Bolsonaro don’t represent <a href="https://www.pbs.org/wnet/preserving-democracy/video/martin-wolf-the-crisis-of-democratic-capitalism/">absolute rejections</a> of their movements.</p>
<p>Despite an <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/30/politics/donald-trump-indictment/index.html">indictment for alleged financial crime</a> and <a href="https://www.npr.org/2023/05/09/1175071486/jury-finds-trump-liable-for-sexual-abuse-in-e-jean-carrolls-civil-case">being found liable for sexual abuse in a civil case</a>, Trump is still the 2024 front-runner.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-populism-has-an-enduring-and-ominous-appeal-199065">Why populism has an enduring and ominous appeal</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>We can’t count on an easy institutional fix, like a grand electoral coalition to push the populists off the ballot. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/529340/original/file-20230531-17-65wxuu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A grey-haired round-faced man in a suit waves." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/529340/original/file-20230531-17-65wxuu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/529340/original/file-20230531-17-65wxuu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529340/original/file-20230531-17-65wxuu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529340/original/file-20230531-17-65wxuu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529340/original/file-20230531-17-65wxuu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529340/original/file-20230531-17-65wxuu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529340/original/file-20230531-17-65wxuu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban greets cheering supporters during an election night rally in Budapest, Hungary in April 2022.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Petr David Josek)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Opponents of Hungary’s Viktor Orban formed a united front to oppose him in the country’s 2022 elections. But Orban was re-elected in a vote <a href="https://www.journalofdemocracy.org/articles/how-viktor-orban-wins/">widely derided</a> as free but not fair. </p>
<p>Opposing coalitions are an uncertain strategy in most cases, and they don’t work at all in two-party systems. There is in fact no obvious electoral strategy for defeating populism, especially now that the far right has hacked the system.</p>
<h2>Red lights flashing</h2>
<p>We can no longer view elections as contests between the centre-right and centre-left in which undecided voters make the difference between victory and defeat. Nor can we count on the right to step back from the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/19/opinion/democracy-authoritarianism-trump.html">abyss of culture wars</a>. We can’t even say for certain that the populism will recede in the usual cyclical manner.</p>
<p>Only decisive rejection can force the right to abandon anger and grievance, but voters are not yet turning their backs on the paranoid populists. It will take a lot of strategic ingenuity to beat them. And it will get harder to do so as they rig the game with rules designed to disenfranchise people who are young, poor or racialized. </p>
<p>All citizens can do is offer is constant, concerted pushback against the many big lies told by populists. It’s never enough, but for the time being, it’s the only way forward.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/206438/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>It will take a lot of strategic ingenuity to fight the rise of populism. And it will get harder to do so as politicians rig the game with rules designed to reduce voting.Daniel Drache, Professor emeritus, Department of Politics, York University, CanadaMarc D. Froese, Professor of Political Science and Founding Director, International Studies Program, Burman UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1894232022-09-02T07:50:13Z2022-09-02T07:50:13ZUniversities call for a tuition fee rise – here’s what that would mean for students and taxpayers<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/482269/original/file-20220901-25-6xvy33.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=39%2C11%2C3754%2C2514&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/person-delivering-speech-725472163">Bizi88/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>University vice-chancellors in England and Wales <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11131489/University-bosses-call-tuition-fees-raised-40-13-000-year.html">have recently called</a> for an increase in tuition fees. </p>
<p>There are a number of reasons for this demand. In the face of a decade-long <a href="https://www.ucu.org.uk/media/12528/HE-unions-claim-2022-23/pdf/TUJNCHESclaim202223FINAL.pdf">decline in real pay</a> for university staff, pressure from unions for a higher wage deal is increasing. Energy costs are hitting unprecedented highs.</p>
<p>The current tuition fee cap of £9,250 in England has been in place since 2017 and the government plans for it to remain frozen until 2025. With inflation <a href="https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/knowledgebank/will-inflation-in-the-uk-keep-rising">now hitting 10%</a>, this means that by 2025 there will effectively have been a long-term cut to university per student incomes by around a third.</p>
<p>A substantial rise in tuition fees in the near future towards £12,000 or £13,000 a year, as suggested by the founder of the University of Buckingham medical school <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11131489/University-bosses-call-tuition-fees-raised-40-13-000-year.html">Karol Sikora</a>, looks increasingly inevitable. </p>
<p>This is despite the government <a href="https://theconversation.com/higher-education-funding-shake-up-what-it-means-for-students-and-universities-177778">setting out its current plans</a> for the future funding of higher education only in February this year. The government’s plans are for a lower salary threshold for student loan repayment, a longer term of repayment (40 years instead of 30), and the fee freeze. </p>
<p>So what would higher fees actually mean for students, and for taxpayers who ultimately subsidise higher education?</p>
<h2>More cost to the taxpayer</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/sn01079/">average student loan</a> in 2021/22 was £46,000, consisting of approximately three years of full tuition fees at £9,250 a year and three years of maintenance loans at £6,000 a year. </p>
<p>Under <a href="https://www.student-loan-calculator.co.uk/">the current system</a>, a student earning a starting salary of £40,000 a year with annual pay rises of 2.5% would not pay off this loan. They would pay a total of £84,000 over 30 years, of which £54,000 was interest, and leave nearly £16,000 unpaid. </p>
<p>An increase in fees to a hypothetical figure of £13,000 a year would result in the same £84,000 worth of repayments over 30 years, but almost all of it would be the interest on the initial debt. £56,000 worth of debt would remain unpaid after 30 years, with the taxpayer footing the bill. Even with the repayment term extended to 40 years, £12,000 would remain unpaid and written off.</p>
<p>Of course, this assumes that maintenance loans (which cover students’ living costs) are not affected, which seems unreasonable in the current economic environment. The final debt figure and amount left unpaid is likely to be higher still. </p>
<p>However, loan repayments are notoriously difficult to estimate far into the future. Inflation, interest rates, increasing annual incomes and work and life expectancy changes all affect repayment calculations. </p>
<p>Under current loan repayment schedules only about <a href="https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/sn01079/">20% of students</a> are expected to fully repay their student loan. This effectively morphs tuition fees and their associated loans into a graduate tax for everyone else. </p>
<p>The government’s planned changes to repayment schedules from 2023/24 would increase this to just over half of graduates fully repaying their debt, but this proportion would likely drop again if fees rise. </p>
<p>So increasing the nominal fee level would mean about half of graduates would pay more and over a longer time. But the other half would not actually be affected as they won’t fully pay off their debt even at the current fee level. Instead, it would shift more of the cost of higher education onto the taxpayer. </p>
<h2>Doubts about university</h2>
<p>Perhaps the greatest danger of increased fees would be that the higher debt and potentially higher lifetime repayments will put off talented young people from less advantaged backgrounds from going to university at all. We know that aversion to debt is stronger among those with <a href="https://www.llakes.ac.uk/publication/callender-c-and-mason-g-2017-does-student-loan-debt-deter-higher-education-participation-new-evidence-from-england-annals-of-american-political-and-social-science-vol-671-doi-org-10-1177/">lower family incomes</a>, and so there is a real danger for social mobility should fees be seen to be prohibitively high. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Graduates in robes throwing mortarboards in the air" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/482271/original/file-20220901-12-tq61jc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/482271/original/file-20220901-12-tq61jc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/482271/original/file-20220901-12-tq61jc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/482271/original/file-20220901-12-tq61jc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/482271/original/file-20220901-12-tq61jc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/482271/original/file-20220901-12-tq61jc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/482271/original/file-20220901-12-tq61jc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Increased fees might put poorer students off going to university.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/group-happy-graduates-throwing-graduation-hats-172074803">michaeljung/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>On the other hand, allowing the amount of income per student that universities receive to be eroded away by inflation, amid all the other increasing costs they face, is likely to lead to some universities having to cut back on places, cut courses, merge with other institutions or, in extreme cases, close their doors permanently. </p>
<p>These cutbacks would also be damaging for social mobility. If there are fewer universities and university places, the spots that remain are likely to disproportionately go to better-off students. </p>
<h2>Is it worth it?</h2>
<p>The question that is missing from popular discussion around tuition fees is: are degrees worth it? The answer to this question is key. It can change the perception of student debt immensely. </p>
<p>The short answer is yes. Even though students feel that the current cost of university is <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/education/2022/aug/31/england-and-wales-university-fees-bad-value-for-money-survey">poor value for money</a>, <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/924353/The_impact_of_undergraduate_degrees_on_early-career_earnings.pdf">graduating from university</a> continues to be beneficial. By age 29, men earn 8% more then their contemporaries who do not go to university. Women earn 28% more. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://ifs.org.uk/uploads/R167-The-impact-of-undergraduate-degrees-on-lifetime-earnings.pdf">Institute for Fiscal Studies</a> estimated that even after taking higher taxes paid by graduates and loan repayments into account, the average financial return over a lifetime of doing a degree is £130,000 for men and £100,000 for women. These are substantial returns, and would dwarf the impact of a small increase in tuition fee costs, so lifetime returns are likely to remain high whatever happens to fees in the next few years. </p>
<p>This comes of course with the caveat that not all degrees will lead to the same return in earnings. Studying maths, medicine or economics is likely to result in significantly different earnings when compared to studying creative arts or social care. </p>
<p>The number of 18-year olds in the UK is estimated to <a href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/populationandmigration/populationprojections/datasets/z1zippedpopulationprojectionsdatafilesuk">increase by 24 percent</a> between 2020 and 2030. This demographic boom will fuel increasing demand for higher education, and with the myriad cost pressures facing universities, something will have to give.</p>
<p>Given the returns still available, a rise in fees to support universities right now is perhaps the way to go rather than risking the financial collapse of a number of institutions.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/189423/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Franz Buscha has previously received funding for research from the Economic and Social Research Council and the Department for Education. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Matt Dickson currently receives funding from the Economic and Social Research Council and the Nuffield Foundation and in the past has received funding from the Department for Education, the European Union and the Low Pay Commission.</span></em></p>Higher fees might well be the best option.Franz Buscha, Professor of Economics and Quantitative Methods, University of WestminsterMatt Dickson, Reader in Public Policy, University of BathLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1813772022-05-20T11:00:46Z2022-05-20T11:00:46ZHow soaring inflation can be particularly harmful for young people<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/464467/original/file-20220520-20-taagda.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=68%2C8%2C5597%2C3780&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/gang-teenagers-hanging-out-urban-environment-216281416">Shutterstock/SpeedKingz</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Inflation rates have become almost impossible to ignore. In the UK, inflation has soared in recent months, now <a href="https://www.reuters.com/markets/uk-inflation-hits-9-highest-since-modern-records-started-2022-05-18/">reaching 9%</a> – the highest rate for 40 years. The Bank of England <a href="https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/monetary-policy-report/2022/may-2022">expects</a> it to rise to 10% this year and for the economy to slow down.</p>
<p>Increasing prices have led to a severe cost of living crisis, as wage increases have not kept pace. To add to the financial pain, most households have recently been hit by <a href="https://theconversation.com/april-will-be-cruel-to-uk-households-but-the-economys-problems-are-much-longer-term-179526">tax rises</a>. </p>
<p>Lower income households will be hardest hit by inflation as they spend a higher proportion of their household budget on food, housing and energy costs. And lower incomes are more common among younger age groups, who on average <a href="https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-8456/">earn less</a> than their older colleagues. </p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="Quarter life, a series by The Conversation" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/451343/original/file-20220310-13-1bj6csd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/451343/original/file-20220310-13-1bj6csd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451343/original/file-20220310-13-1bj6csd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451343/original/file-20220310-13-1bj6csd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451343/original/file-20220310-13-1bj6csd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451343/original/file-20220310-13-1bj6csd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451343/original/file-20220310-13-1bj6csd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><em><strong><a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/quarter-life-117947?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=UK+YP2022&utm_content=InArticleTop">This article is part of Quarter Life</a></strong>, a series about issues affecting those of us in our twenties and thirties. From the challenges of beginning a career and taking care of our mental health, to the excitement of starting a family, adopting a pet or just making friends as an adult. The articles in this series explore the questions and bring answers as we navigate this turbulent period of life.</em></p>
<p><em>You may be interested in:</em></p>
<p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/rihanna-and-radical-pregnancy-fashion-how-the-victorians-made-maternity-wear-boring-182000?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=UK+YP2022&utm_content=InArticleTop">Rihanna and radical pregnancy fashion – how the Victorians made maternity wear boring</a></em></p>
<p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/student-loans-would-a-graduate-tax-be-a-better-option-179253?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=UK+YP2022&utm_content=InArticleTop">Student loans: would a graduate tax be a better option?</a></em></p>
<p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/we-wont-have-a-male-contraceptive-until-we-change-our-understanding-of-risk-68375?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=UK+YP2022&utm_content=InArticleTop">We won’t have a male contraceptive until we change our understanding of risk</a></em></p>
<hr>
<p>In 2021, for example, the <a href="https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-8456/">median earnings</a> for those aged 22-29, were £27,092 a year, compared to £34,649.16 for the 30-59 age group.</p>
<p>Using these figures, we can show the amount per week an average worker may be worse off. For people aged 22-29, the median income in 2021 was £521 per week. Combining inflation and an assumed wage <a href="https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-8456/">increase of 4.5%</a> leaves the young worker on average £24.27 a week worse off in May 2022. This is equivalent to being £1,261 worse off this year. </p>
<p>For some the blow will be softened by the fact that the minimum wage <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/pay-boost-for-millions-as-national-minimum-and-living-wage-rates-go-up-from-today">has been raised</a> by 6.6% (to £9.50) for those over 23 and by 9.8% (to £9.18) for those who are 21 and 22. </p>
<p>Overall though, since the financial crisis of 2008, wage growth has been subdued due to the rise of the gig economy and the use of precarious labour practices such as zero-hours contracts. These <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-rise-of-the-low-pay-workforce-when-seven-jobs-just-isnt-enough-106979">tend to result</a> in uncertainty, poor wages and (in some cases) a lack of sick pay and workplace pensions.</p>
<h2>Triple whammy</h2>
<p>COVID-19 has created some <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/jackkelly/2020/03/27/thousands-of-new-jobs-are-being-created-in-response-to-the-coronavirus/?sh=f0f9133d3fca">job opportunities</a>, notably in sectors such as online retail and delivery services – but these again are often roles with precarious conditions attached, with that lack of certainty and low wages at their core. Evidence suggests that more than a third of gig economy workers are aged <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/687553/The_characteristics_of_those_in_the_gig_economy.pdf">under 34</a>, making them particularly susceptible to inflation rises.</p>
<p>Nor are young people still in education immune. The British government allows for university tuition fees <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/550232/Teaching-excellence-framework-factsheet.pdf">to increase</a> in line with inflation, meaning the cost of learning could increase dramatically for a large number of current undergraduates. </p>
<p>For those who have already graduated, the higher rate of inflation will increase the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/repaying-your-student-loan/what-you-pay#s2-5">interest payable</a> upon their outstanding student loans. And if they’re in a position to start looking to buy a home, they will have noticed that interest rates <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-57764601">are rising</a> as the Bank of England seeks to curb inflation, pushing up the costs of a mortgage. </p>
<p>The many young people who are part of “generation rent” meanwhile, are exposed to a mixture of rising rents and decreasing disposable income. According to the education charity <a href="https://www.if.org.uk/">Intergenerational Foundation</a>, a person in their 20s <a href="https://www.if.org.uk/research-posts/squeezed-youth-the-intergenerational-pay-gap-and-cost-of-living-crisis/">spends around half</a> of their income on rent, energy and transport. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Graffiti with poster protesting rent rises." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/464469/original/file-20220520-16-un6ys1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/464469/original/file-20220520-16-un6ys1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/464469/original/file-20220520-16-un6ys1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/464469/original/file-20220520-16-un6ys1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/464469/original/file-20220520-16-un6ys1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/464469/original/file-20220520-16-un6ys1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/464469/original/file-20220520-16-un6ys1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">High cost of living.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/hackney-wick-stratford-london-england-10192015-333834479">Shutterstock/HipKat</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>At the moment, all three of those expenses are rising. On average <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-59296839">rents rose</a> by 8.3% in 2021 to an average of £969 per month across the UK. Energy prices have seen a huge jump in recent months, and getting about just gets more and more expensive. Petrol pump prices are prohibitive for some, while rail fares are <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/money/2022/feb/28/train-fares-rise-england-wales-london-tube-strike-rail#:%7E:text=Rail%20fares%20will%20rise%20across,wider%20cost%20of%20living%20crisis">only going up</a>. (And as fare hikes are based on inflation, future ticket prices are likely to be astronomical).</p>
<p>According to the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), <a href="https://obr.uk/overview-of-the-march-2022-economic-and-fiscal-outlook/">the impact</a> of these three factors is going to lead to a fall in living standards by 2.2% in 2022-23 – the biggest slump since the 1950s. The report also suggests that it will take until 2025 for living standards to go back to pre-pandemic levels. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, the Bank of England and the OBR have both indicated that inflation will continue to rise until the end of 2022. If GDP growth continues to fall at the same time, the UK may be looking at a period of stagflation which would present yet another harsh economic challenge for young people, when persistent high prices would be combined with slow growth, high unemployment – and limited opportunity.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/181377/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Starting out is getting more and more expensive.Shampa Roy-Mukherjee, Associate Professor in Economics, University of East LondonEjike Udeogu, Assistant Professor of Economics, Coventry UniversityMichael Harrison, Lecturer in Finance and FinTech, University of East LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1638162021-08-10T19:48:28Z2021-08-10T19:48:28ZWhat does a degree actually cost – for students and for universities?<p>Many students say they feel COVID has diminished the value of their university experience. <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-56245074">Complaints</a> filed with the Office of the Independent Adjudicator in 2020 detail examples of how the pandemic has disrupted students’ learning. A <a href="https://www.hepi.ac.uk/2021/06/24/the-student-academic-experience-survey-2021/">recent report</a> from the Higher Education Policy Institute finds students often say they regard universities to be relatively poor value for money. </p>
<p>Such sentiments were reported <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/student/news/higher-education-students-university-poor-value-money-dissatisfaction-survey-poll-a7779161.html">before</a> COVID shut campuses down and sent students home. The <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-augar-review-what-it-could-mean-for-students-and-universities-118080">UK government</a> acknowledged, in the 2019 <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/805127/Review_of_post_18_education_and_funding.pdf">Augar review</a>, that the university experience can, for some, lead to disappointment. But the pandemic appears to have <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/education/2020/dec/03/i-feel-out-of-my-depth-university-lecturers-in-england-on-the-impact-of-the-pandemic">made matters worse</a> for many students and staff. </p>
<p>So, with students unlikey <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/education/2021/jun/26/uk-students-want-tuition-fees-refunded-as-they-face-third-year-online">to be able to have fees</a> funded, a question of value arises. And to answer that we need to know what it costs to deliver a degree course and what students and graduates actually pay for.</p>
<h2>What a course costs</h2>
<p>Academic staff expenditure represents between 29% and 32% of university budgets in England. My colleagues Norman Gowar and Michael Naef and I, in our book <a href="https://bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/english-universities-in-crisis">English Universities in Crisis</a>, show that roughly the same percentage is spent on non-academic salaries (IT support, admissions, <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/reducing-bureaucratic-burdens-higher-education">rising</a> bureaucracy) and on facilities (libraries, lecture theatres). </p>
<p>If we view teaching as core to a student’s education, we can calculate this direct cost. A lecturer’s salary in the UK starts at about £40,000, and a professor’s at about £60,000. The number of students for each teaching position <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/education/ng-interactive/2020/sep/05/the-best-uk-universities-2021-league-table">ranges</a> between about ten at some universities to about 15 elsewhere. Taking a salary of £60,000 and adding roughly a third for National Insurance and pension costs, my calculations suggest 15 students could hire a professor to teach them for just over £5,000 a head. </p>
<p>This allows for the fact that a traditional lecturer on a research and teaching contract spends about 40% of their time on teaching, 40% on research and 20% on admin duties. Though many universities have somewhat controversially cut costs on academics by having some academics on <a href="https://theconversation.com/teaching-only-roles-could-mark-the-end-of-your-academic-career-74826">teaching-focused contracts</a>, where the lecturer teaches roughly 50% more than a traditional academic. </p>
<p>This raises the question of whether undergraduate student fees are effectively subsidising research, which is very difficult to answer. But students also benefit directly by being taught by active researchers. Simply put, would you rather be taught by the person who discovered the new theory, or someone who has only read about it?</p>
<p>The Office for Students (the independent regulator of higher education in England) <a href="https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/media/1448/ofs2018_21.pdf">classifies</a> most subjects as low-cost, essentially involving only the lecturer and the lecture theatre. Some high-cost subjects, including clinical medical and veterinary courses, and, to a lesser extent, laboratory sciences, receive supplementary public funding. The government has <a href="https://theconversation.com/arts-education-is-facing-massive-cuts-yet-its-value-is-felt-everywhere-160844">proposed</a> to cut by 50% this supplementary funding to some arts subjects, such as drama and music, although this only works out to about <a href="https://www.fenews.co.uk/press-releases/68043-what-is-really-going-on-with-arts-funding-in-higher-education">£120 per student</a>.</p>
<h2>What a student pays</h2>
<p>In 2012, <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-11677862">government reforms</a> saw maximum tuition fees in England triple to £9,000. Despite the fact that this £9,000 was a cap and the government hoped that competition between universities would result in lowered fees, the cap became the standard charge. In addition, the government phased out student number controls that limited how many students each university <a href="https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/SN06205/SN06205.pdf">could admit</a>. </p>
<p>These reforms were designed to enable more young people to study by increasing university budgets without an immediate cost to the government. Key to this expansion is the loan-repayment scheme. Students do not need to pay anything up front. And they only start repaying once they’ve graduated and are earning above a certain amount. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/student-loans-interest-rates-and-repayment-threshold-announcement">2020-2021 threshold</a> for student loan repayments is £27,295, with an interest rate of 5.6%, which is well above current market rates. After 30 years, any remaining balance is written off.</p>
<p>Consequently, any graduate with relatively low earnings pays off only a fraction of their debt and interest. The <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/805127/Review_of_post_18_education_and_funding.pdf">Augar report</a> calculates that the 30% with the lowest lifetime earnings pay less than 10% of their original debt, while the top 30% pay more than they borrowed. </p>
<p>This means some students will pay more than the cost of their education, while others effectively receive a subsidy. In 2018, the Office of National Statistics <a href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/governmentpublicsectorandtaxes/publicsectorfinance/articles/newtreatmentofstudentloansinthepublicsectorfinancesandnationalaccounts/2018-12-17">determined</a> that much (estimated by the government to <a href="https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/student-loan-forecasts-for-england/2019-20">be about 50%</a>) of the student loan book would never be repaid and would have to be carried on the books as government expenditure.</p>
<h2>Financial returns</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://ifs.org.uk/publications/14731">Institute for Fiscal Studies</a> (IFS) has found that, after taking account of student-loan repayments, male graduates end up on average £130,000 better off over their lifetimes by going to university, and female graduates gain £100,000. </p>
<p>This differs, however, by type of university and by subject. For graduates from the large, research-intensive universities of the UK’s Russell Group and, in general, for graduates in medicine, dentistry, veterinary, economics, mathematics and engineering, earnings <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-41693230">have been shown</a> to be high. </p>
<p>Other students, meanwhile, gain no financial advantage. The IFS report <a href="https://ifs.org.uk/publications/14731">found that</a> around 20% of undergrads would have been better off financially without a degree.</p>
<p>If this is the case, why do differently ranked universities charge the same fees? As my colleagues and I <a href="https://bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/english-universities-in-crisis">have shown</a>, this is in part because the courses are oversubscribed – enough students are willing to pay the maximum fees to get into university regardless of their ranking. What’s more, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/education/2019/apr/09/universities-building-frenzy-who-actually-impressed">considerable expense</a> has gone into raising student satisfaction, via marketing and non-academic facilities.</p>
<p>The pandemic, however, has changed things. For much of the lockdown period students were unable to access, or at least make the most of, new buildings fees have helped fund. The recent complaints suggest that some universities will now look for ways to improve the academic experience and make the value of a degree clearer should they seek to continue charging the same fees.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/163816/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jefferson Frank does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>With high fees and COVID restrictions in place, student satisfaction in England is on the downturn. How should they think about the value of their studies?Jefferson Frank, Professor of Economics, Royal Holloway University of LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1470612020-10-02T12:50:10Z2020-10-02T12:50:10ZUniversities have invested in online learning – and it can provide students with value for money<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/361347/original/file-20201002-22-dxthz9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C5607%2C3732&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/view-over-shoulder-employer-listen-applicant-1678229824">fizkes/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>As the coronavirus pandemic continues, so does universities’ reliance on online teaching, prompting <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/sep/28/where-is-the-money-going-students-demand-tuition-fee-refunds">complaints from students</a> that they are not getting full value from tuition fees. Students who have returned to campus fear that their university experience as a whole is being diminished. </p>
<p>Manchester Metropolitan University has moved <a href="https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/man-met-online-learning-covid-19007440">first-year teaching online</a> as students self-isolate. T<a href="https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/keep-teaching-online-only-until-christmas-says-uk-academic-union">he University and College Union</a> has urged universities to teach online until Christmas, and <a href="https://www.ucu.org.uk/article/11036/MPs-call-on-University-of-Leeds-to-move-learning-online?list=1676">MPs in Leeds</a> have asked the University of Leeds to teach online. </p>
<p><a href="https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/324762">A petition</a> is circulating which calls on the UK government to authorise refunds for tuition fees. It states: “The quality of online lectures is not equal to face-to-face lectures. Students should not have to pay full tuition fees for online lectures, without experiencing university life.”</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1310098172291710976"}"></div></p>
<p>There is no doubt that student experience as a whole will not be the same if universities move entirely online. But we must not assume that online teaching is automatically inferior to face-to-face teaching. Universities can provide students with engaging and invaluable <a href="https://theconversation.com/five-ways-online-university-learning-can-be-better-than-face-to-face-teaching-139127">learning experiences online</a>. </p>
<p>The question of whether online learning provides value for £9,000 a year tuition fees is not an easy one to answer, since each student will have a unique experience and value can <a href="https://www.rsmuk.com/ideas-and-insights/office-for-students-value-for-money-strategy">only be assessed</a> in the long term. </p>
<p>Nevertheless, universities and staff are putting a significant amount of investment – in terms of money, technology, expertise, effort and time – into online teaching. On the part of academics, <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2017/02/17/study-challenges-cost-and-price-myths-online-education">the costs</a> of online teaching have already exceeded those of face-to-face teaching since it requires a considerable amount of training and extra hours of work. </p>
<h2>Staff effort</h2>
<p>The overnight shift to online learning in spring 2020 led to <a href="https://wonkhe.com/blogs/the-expectation-gap-students-experience-of-learning-during-covid-19-and-their-expectations-for-next-year/">frustration</a> and students’ concerns over the quality of online learning in the 2020/21 academic year are understandable. But in preparation for the new academic year universities have invested in providing their staff with the skills needed for online teaching. </p>
<p>Working with a team of educational developers, I delivered an intensive course on online teaching at Lancaster University over the summer. Despite the extra workload, staff participation in the course was remarkably high. Participants were very serious about ensuring student success online and spent hours re-learning how to teach. All those staff hours add up – staff training for online teaching has been very costly. </p>
<p>Both universities and academics have realised that teaching online is <a href="https://theconversation.com/coronavirus-universities-are-shifting-classes-online-but-its-not-as-easy-as-it-sounds-133030">not as simple</a> as providing hour-long online lectures. For each course, online tutors need to think through an entire sequence of learning activities and carefully structure learner experiences around them – readings, lectures, discussions and assessments. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Camera recording woman talking" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/361350/original/file-20201002-13-11c9pzy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/361350/original/file-20201002-13-11c9pzy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/361350/original/file-20201002-13-11c9pzy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/361350/original/file-20201002-13-11c9pzy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/361350/original/file-20201002-13-11c9pzy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/361350/original/file-20201002-13-11c9pzy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/361350/original/file-20201002-13-11c9pzy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Online teaching takes a significant amount of preparation and effort.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/professional-digital-equipment-recording-video-blog-692685511">fizkes/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Each online learning activity takes time and energy to develop. Students may not be aware of how much effort has been put into <a href="https://theconversation.com/coronavirus-14-simple-tips-for-better-online-teaching-133573">a short video</a>. As a lecturer who took part in my summer course said: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>The ability to pre-record (and thus re-record) material has led me to strive for perfection. In a normal lecture, there are no opportunities to go back, but when I’m sat at my desk at home, the possibilities are endless. Obviously, any improvement is good for students, but it has come at a great cost to my time.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Besides, online teaching is a team endeavour, requiring diverse expertise. Universities have hired a huge number of digital learning specialists and <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/digital-learning/blogs/education-time-corona/hottest-job-higher-education-instructional-designer">learning designers</a>. </p>
<p>This also requires more work to coordinate at a degree programme and department level. At a basic level, student workload across different modules needs to be managed, and live session schedules should not clash. </p>
<h2>Always online</h2>
<p>Unlike face-to-face activities restricted by time and space, online learning allows students to access course materials and engage with learning activities whenever they want. From private chats on Microsoft Teams to quick meetings on Zoom, online communication tools make one-on-one interaction easy and convenient. Students appreciate the flexible and personal elements of online learning. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Man looking at screen of video call with numerous others on screen" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/361356/original/file-20201002-17-vr14zt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/361356/original/file-20201002-17-vr14zt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/361356/original/file-20201002-17-vr14zt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/361356/original/file-20201002-17-vr14zt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/361356/original/file-20201002-17-vr14zt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/361356/original/file-20201002-17-vr14zt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/361356/original/file-20201002-17-vr14zt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Online courses can involve more interaction with teaching staff.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/online-remote-learning-teacher-computer-having-1797694048">mirzavisoko/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But as students adapt to a new way of learning at a distance they also require more pastoral support from online tutors. All of this means that tutors often find themselves monitoring and supporting students’ learning all the time – and spending <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01587910500081251?casa_token=ScKcWbV7dlMAAAAA%3AMJDT1_I0vLpqPr7ibE8CPZgRQnVp-Sk87LwZLsSHOgJQPqSK0w5ApjCkvmdye_AiBaW2XkuIZcg">a lot more time</a> teaching online than they would in a lecture theatre. </p>
<p>Many academics have found that their balance of <a href="https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/will-covid-kill-teaching-research-employment-model">teaching and research</a> has been upended as their teaching hours <a href="https://www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-political-science-blog-2020-3-coronavirus-has-caused-an-academic-recession/">rapidly increase</a>. This further increases the costs of online teaching. </p>
<h2>Value for money</h2>
<p>The UK government <a href="https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/324762">responded</a> to the petition requesting tuition fee refunds as follows: “Higher education providers must deliver high-quality courses. If students are unhappy, they should first complain to their provider, or the Office of the Independent Adjudicator for Higher Education.”</p>
<p>This sort of response can establish a problematic understanding of the relationship between universities and students. Universities are educational providers, but not vendors of a product like Amazon or other retailers. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/news/what-is-a-university-degree-for">University education</a>, whether online or face to face, is not a pre-made product. Universities are, without doubt, responsible for excellent student experiences, but students also actively shape and transform their own experience. </p>
<p>Tutors genuinely care for student success and strive for excellence in their teaching. Universities must put their <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-universities-can-ensure-students-still-have-a-good-experience-despite-coronavirus-146790">best efforts</a> into supporting their students and tutors. It is important to develop a relationship of trust between universities, tutors, and students, and for all to work together to make online learning a success.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/147061/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kyungmee Lee does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Online learning is not automatically inferior to face-to-face teaching.Kyungmee Lee, Lecturer in Technology Enhanced Learning, Lancaster UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1441282020-08-12T20:09:37Z2020-08-12T20:09:37Z‘No one would even know if I had died in my room’: coronavirus leaves international students in dire straits<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/352397/original/file-20200812-18-2c2jdv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=17%2C0%2C5734%2C3828&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/sad-woman-computer-roomasian-womanblurryselective-focus-723192256">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Many international students in private rental housing in Sydney and Melbourne were <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-coronavirus-impacts-are-devastating-for-international-students-in-private-rental-housing-134792">struggling before COVID-19 hit</a>. Our surveys of these students before and during the pandemic show it has made their already precarious situations much worse. </p>
<p>Of those with paid work when the pandemic began, six in ten lost their jobs. Many were struggling to pay rent and tuition fees.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-coronavirus-impacts-are-devastating-for-international-students-in-private-rental-housing-134792">Why coronavirus impacts are devastating for international students in private rental housing</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Our <a href="https://internationalstudentsandhousing.com/2020/07/12/publications/">new report</a> is based on two surveys* of several thousand students. To track financial distress, we developed eight indicators from Australian Bureau of Statistics measures for the first survey in late 2019. We used these again for the second survey in mid-2020. The responses are shown below.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/352082/original/file-20200811-22-130q86c.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Chart showing indicators of financial distress among international students" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/352082/original/file-20200811-22-130q86c.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/352082/original/file-20200811-22-130q86c.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=495&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/352082/original/file-20200811-22-130q86c.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=495&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/352082/original/file-20200811-22-130q86c.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=495&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/352082/original/file-20200811-22-130q86c.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=623&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/352082/original/file-20200811-22-130q86c.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=623&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/352082/original/file-20200811-22-130q86c.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=623&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Since the lockdown, students’ responses showed:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>29% of respondents had gone without meals (up from 22% prior to lockdown)</p></li>
<li><p>26% had pawned or sold something to obtain money (up from 12%)</p></li>
<li><p>23% had had trouble paying for electricity on time (up from 11%)</p></li>
<li><p>23% had asked community organisations for help (up from 4%). </p></li>
</ul>
<p>Our 2019 survey showed about one in five international students in the private rental sector were already in precarious housing situations. The second survey revealed far more were living precariously because of deteriorating finances during the pandemic. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/90-000-foreign-graduates-are-stuck-in-australia-without-financial-support-its-a-humanitarian-and-economic-crisis-in-the-making-136717">90,000 foreign graduates are stuck in Australia without financial support: it's a humanitarian and economic crisis in the making</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>This article also draws on 26 semi-structured interviews with students to share fresh insights into how they have coped as the pandemic unfolded in Sydney and Melbourne. </p>
<h2>Incomes from work and family lost</h2>
<p>The central financial issue has been loss of income during the pandemic. Just 15% of students who’d lost jobs had found a new one. Almost two-thirds (63%) of those who still had a job had had their hours cut, most by about 50%. </p>
<p>At the same time, financial support from families decreased for just over four in ten students. Only 12% said it had increased. </p>
<p>Before the pandemic, 50% of respondents reported an income below A$500 a week; after it began, 70% did. </p>
<h2>Struggling to pay the rent</h2>
<p>Six in ten respondents agreed paying the rent had become more difficult. Since the pandemic, 27% said they were unable to pay the full rent. One in five agreed or strongly agreed with the statement: “I feel I could become homeless.”</p>
<p>A VET student described the impact of losing her job on her finances:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I could really save some money in the month of February and March that really, you know, took me until the month of April. So, I was not really worried in April, but then as May started and nearly the middle of May, I was really worried about my account balance. I’d already given multiple calls to different organisations by then for any kind of support. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Half of our respondents reported trying to negotiate a rent reduction: 22% received a reduction and 31% received a reduction or a deferral. Almost half were unsuccessful. A university student from Melbourne outlined her failed attempt to reduce rent: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Yeah, we are worrying [about paying the rent] and like we emailed to our agency to make discount or something like that, but they said it’s hard for them, an agency and landlord too, because the landlord has a mortgage […] and everybody’s struggling and so for now they don’t have any discount […] so we are worried because before that, before this current thing [the pandemic], we had our part-time jobs and the three of us have now lost our jobs.</p>
</blockquote>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Two students sitting at a table together and working out a problem" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/352400/original/file-20200812-23-j9xpnp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/352400/original/file-20200812-23-j9xpnp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/352400/original/file-20200812-23-j9xpnp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/352400/original/file-20200812-23-j9xpnp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/352400/original/file-20200812-23-j9xpnp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/352400/original/file-20200812-23-j9xpnp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/352400/original/file-20200812-23-j9xpnp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In some share houses, all the students have lost their jobs and don’t know how they’ll pay the rent.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/two-asian-female-students-discussing-pointing-1355231108">Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/tracking-the-rise-of-room-sharing-and-overcrowding-and-what-it-means-for-housing-in-australia-107265">Tracking the rise of room sharing and overcrowding, and what it means for housing in Australia</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>A vocational education and training (<a href="https://www.studyinaustralia.gov.au/English/Australian-Education/Vocational-education">VET</a>) student from Sydney, who lost her job in March, described how she was treated when she couldn’t pay the full rent: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>So I was not able to pay my full rent [… ]because of that they [the agent] were like, ‘Okay, don’t pay rent if you don’t have any money, we’ll understand.’ […] Then all of a sudden by mid-April they were like, ‘Hey, you have this much outstanding rent and you have to pay it immediately, otherwise the landlord is going to file the case to the tribunal.’ And I was shocked, and it was out of nowhere, and I told them, ‘You were the one who told me you didn’t have to pay rent if you don’t have it.‘ </p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Studies and well-being suffer too</h2>
<p>Students are struggling on several fronts. One student remarked:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Yeah, it’s crazy. It’s hard sometimes so that I’m not sleeping and then you have to do school work as well and then you have to think about these things like managing, talking to agents every day and negotiating and searching for jobs. There’s just a lot of things coming together.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Six in ten respondents agreed or strongly agreed financial stress was affecting their studies. Over half (54%) reported financial difficulties and 44% worried they might not be able to pay tuition fees. </p>
<blockquote>
<p>I’ve also been trying to get fees reduction but every time it has always been like a negative response. So it has actually been pretty difficult […] especially with we’re not getting the same quality of education. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Just over a third (35%) worried they might have to leave Australia before completing their studies. </p>
<p>Respondents did not feel governments had supported them. State government support was rated good or excellent by 17%, and only 13% felt that way about federal government support. </p>
<p>One university student said: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>In this current pandemic the Australian government has made it more clear that they don’t really care about the [international] students. I don’t know why is that. It’s pretty much heartbreaking considering the input of them in the Australian economy. </p>
</blockquote>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/covid-19-increases-risk-to-international-students-mental-health-australia-urgently-needs-to-step-up-137596">COVID-19 increases risk to international students' mental health. Australia urgently needs to step up</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Loneliness on the rise</h2>
<p>Loneliness was already a significant problem and it has worsened during the pandemic. Just under a third of respondents said they felt lonely before the pandemic, but 63% felt lonelier since the pandemic. </p>
<p>A university student in Sydney said: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>I think no one would even know if I had died in my room if it wasn’t for a month when my landlady would come and ask for rent. Other than that, no one would even know. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Our research is revealing just how precarious the lives of international students have become. Policymakers should heed the evidence and consider how to make Australia a better place to study. </p>
<hr>
<p><em>* The first survey was distributed by 43 educational institutions (24 VET, ten universities, seven English language and two foundation course institutions) to their international students in late 2019. It received 7,084 responses. The second was distributed in June-July 2020 to 3,114 respondents of the first survey who had agreed to face-to-face interviews and to be recontacted. The second survey received 852 responses.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/144128/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alan Morris receives funding from the Australian Research Council</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gaby Ramia receives funding from The Australian Research Council (ARC). </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Shaun Wilson receives funding from the Australian Research Council.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Catherine Hastings and Emma Mitchell do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Of the students with jobs, 60% lost them and and two-thirds of the rest had hours cut. As they struggled, and often failed, to get rents and tuition fees reduced, precarious lives became even harder.Alan Morris, Professor, Institute of Public Policy and Governance, University of Technology SydneyCatherine Hastings, Assistant Researcher, Institute for Public Policy and Governance, University of Technology SydneyEmma Mitchell, Assistant Researcher, Institute for Public Policy and Governance, University of Technology SydneyGaby Ramia, Associate Professor in Public Policy, Department of Government and International Relations, University of SydneyShaun Wilson, Associate Professor of Sociology, Macquarie UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1180802019-05-31T13:27:26Z2019-05-31T13:27:26ZThe Augar Review: what it could mean for students and universities<p>After many months of delay, while it was caught up in the policy vacuum created by Brexit, the <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/805127/Review_of_post_18_education_and_funding.pdf">Augar Review has finally been published</a>. </p>
<p>This independent government-commissioned report, chaired by Philip Augar, a British author and former equities broker, highlights a number of recommendations for post-18 education. Beyond the <a href="https://theconversation.com/universities-in-crisis-why-a-cut-in-tuition-fees-and-longer-loan-period-would-make-most-students-worse-off-118078">headline cut to tuition fees</a>, the review aims to “ensure a joined-up system that works for everyone”. Augar provides more than 60 proposals for both further education and higher education – for once taking a combined view of two sectors that are often regarded less and more prestigious respectively. </p>
<p>As part of a package of measures to improve the status of further education, the review proposes moving away from structuring government fee loans around a three or four year degree. Instead, it recommends a lifelong learning allowance that can be used to fund degree or further education programmes. </p>
<p>As well as lowering fees to £7,500 from £9,250, Augar proposes the reintroduction of means-tested maintenance grants up to £3,000. The report also recommends extending student loan repayments from 30 to 40 years. Above inflation interest rates on student loans would also be removed – but only during the period when the student is at university – and there would also be an overall cap on total paybacks. </p>
<p>This may all sound good for borrowers in the long term. But the lowering of the repayment threshold from £25,725 to £23,000 – and the extension of the repayment period will <a href="https://theconversation.com/universities-in-crisis-why-a-cut-in-tuition-fees-and-longer-loan-period-would-make-most-students-worse-off-118078">make many graduates worse off</a> – and means they could be paying back loans well into their sixties. For the government, however, these changes would put the country’s finances in a better position by increasing the proportion of the overall student loan book that is repaid. </p>
<h2>The impact for students</h2>
<p>The ways in which such changes to funding might impact <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-40511184">student participation</a> are complex. As <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0309877X.2013.778966">research regularly shows</a>, for most students only significant changes in on-course costs influence their choices about where and what to study. </p>
<p>Under the current system, an overall student loan can reach £54,500 for students from low income families on a three-year course. So differences of £1,000, or even the proposed £1,750, in annual fees will reduce the amount borrowed by under 10% and give no immediate financial benefit to undergraduates.</p>
<p>The proposed grant, however, could go towards living costs and help to reduce the need for students from low-income backgrounds to take paid employment while studying. This would have a direct impact on the experience and likely outcomes for these students. So, in this sense, the reintroduction of grants should play at least a small part in increasing participation among those from low-income backgrounds.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/277384/original/file-20190531-69059-tk6fro.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/277384/original/file-20190531-69059-tk6fro.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/277384/original/file-20190531-69059-tk6fro.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/277384/original/file-20190531-69059-tk6fro.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/277384/original/file-20190531-69059-tk6fro.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/277384/original/file-20190531-69059-tk6fro.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/277384/original/file-20190531-69059-tk6fro.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The reform could see loans renamed as student contributions.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The changes in repayment terms would also mean that lower earning graduates would pay back only some of their debts, while those on the current income threshold of £25,725 would make, what the report describes as, a “student contribution” of an additional £180 a year. </p>
<p>Looking at <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/805103/ANNEX_Estimating_the_lifetime_contributions.pdf">projections over the 40 years</a>, however, the new repayment model would make little difference to the very lowest earners, and high earners would benefit from the 120% cap on repayments in relation to loans. It would be middle income borrowers, with salaries of around £45,000 five years after graduation, who would feel the most impact – paying back around 105% of their original loan over 40 years, as opposed to 40% over 30 years under the current system.</p>
<p>And, of course, while the proposed increases in resources for further education should improve the options and experiences of many students, there’s a question of how the possible reduction in funding for some university courses will impact on student experience and choices.</p>
<h2>A step back from marketisation?</h2>
<p>While the headline from the report may have become the almost 20% reduction in maximum undergraduate fees in England, <a href="https://www.universitiesuk.ac.uk/news/Pages/Top-up-guarantee-needed-from-government-if-fees-are-cut,-warns-UUK.aspx">vice-chancellors want to know more</a> about how this will be implemented. </p>
<p>The sector estimates that the <a href="https://www.universitiesuk.ac.uk/news/Pages/Top-up-guarantee-needed-from-government-if-fees-are-cut,-warns-UUK.aspx">funding gap will be around £1.8 billion</a> each year. And there are strong signals that the review believes this should be used to increase what it describes as the government’s currently “very limited control over the substantial taxpayer investment in higher education.”</p>
<p>This could prove to be the first step in a retreat from <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03054985.2016.1184870">David Willett’s package of reforms</a> which, in 2012, introduced £9,000 maximum fees and, in 2015, led to the removal of student number caps – so that universities can now offer as many places on each course as they wish. These changes grew from proposals in <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/31384/11-944-higher-education-students-at-heart-of-system.pdf">Students at the Heart of the System</a>, a white paper that aimed to create a system more responsive to student demand. Or <a href="https://fabians.org.uk/the-marketisation-of-higher-education/">as its critics would say</a>, to marketise higher education.</p>
<p>Of course, there’s no certainty that any changes to post-18 education and funding that are introduced in the wake of the Augar Review will actually follow the route it advocates. But it’s to be hoped that when politicians consider the financial implications of these proposals during the Spending Review later in 2019, they remember and reflect <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/prime-minister-launches-major-review-of-post-18-education">on the original thinking behind this exercise</a> and allocate funding with all post-18 education options and students in mind.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/118080/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Helen Carasso has received funding for research through an ESRC research centre.</span></em></p>Many of the new proposals would leave the wealthiest students and graduates better off.Helen Carasso, Research Lecturer in Higher Education Policy, University of OxfordLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1180782019-05-30T17:19:22Z2019-05-30T17:19:22ZUniversities in crisis: why a cut in tuition fees and longer loan period would make most students worse off<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/277249/original/file-20190530-69067-16tcvgx.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Pexels</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>University tuition fees in England are <a href="https://www.student-loan-calculator.co.uk/blog/2017/03/tuition-fees-in-england-are-now-the-highest-in-the-world/">some of the highest in the world</a>, with an average annual cost of £9,188. This means that English students are paying significantly more for higher education that those in many other countries – including the US which is known for its expensive tuition fees, and where the average student pays US$9,410 a year (around £7,518).</p>
<p>But new recommendations say that university tuition fees in England should be cut to £7,500. This would be balanced out by extending student loan repayments from 30 to 40 years. The suggestions come as part of an independent <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/post-18-review-of-education-and-funding-independent-panel-report">government-commissioned review</a> chaired by Philip Augar, a British author and former equities broker.</p>
<p>In addition to lowering fees to £7,500, Augar also proposes the re-introduction of means-tested maintenance grants up to £3,000. The review also proposes a decrease in the punitive interest rates on student loans – but only during the period when the student is at university – as well as an overall cap on total paybacks. This would see the total repayment capped at 1.2 times the original loan (in real terms). So for every £10,000 of a loan, the most students would have to pay back would be £12,000.</p>
<h2>A damp squib</h2>
<p>It’s hard to argue with the core message of the Augar Review, that the focus of additional funding should be towards the 50% of post-18 students who do not attend university – <a href="https://theconversation.com/t-levels-might-mark-a-revolution-in-technical-education-but-whos-going-to-teach-all-the-students-104590">further education colleges</a> have been decimated since the introduction of the high fee regime in 2012. </p>
<p>But with respect to the university sector, the review is a damp squib and only tinkers at the edges. From Augar’s own figures, students will – despite the headline cut in fees – on average be paying more. Remarkably, only high-income graduates will see a reduction, due to the cap on total payments.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/277250/original/file-20190530-69067-zhozcy.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/277250/original/file-20190530-69067-zhozcy.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/277250/original/file-20190530-69067-zhozcy.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/277250/original/file-20190530-69067-zhozcy.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/277250/original/file-20190530-69067-zhozcy.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/277250/original/file-20190530-69067-zhozcy.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/277250/original/file-20190530-69067-zhozcy.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The changes could see graduates paying back loans through most of their working lives into their 60s.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Pexels</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The extension of the repayment period to 40 years means that the bulk of graduates will actually be paying more. They will also suffer the psychological burden of high debt for that time – with lower earners repaying for longer, while the highest earners have already paid off their loans. </p>
<p>This will hit students from middle and even lower-income backgrounds the hardest, as <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/graduates-from-poorer-backgrounds-earn-less-than-wealthier-peers-on-same-course-major-international-a6981401.html">research shows</a> graduates from poorer backgrounds earn less than richer peers on the same course.</p>
<p>Those students who do not qualify for the proposed £3,000 grant, will definitely be worse off than they are now. Since universities are getting the same incomes, and taxpayers are not paying more, and lower-income and higher-income students are paying less, the middle must carry the load. They gain from the reduction in the fee level, from lowered interest rates during their studies, but then suffer disproportionately from the extension of the repayments to 40 years. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/277251/original/file-20190530-69095-1tliwge.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/277251/original/file-20190530-69095-1tliwge.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/277251/original/file-20190530-69095-1tliwge.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/277251/original/file-20190530-69095-1tliwge.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/277251/original/file-20190530-69095-1tliwge.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/277251/original/file-20190530-69095-1tliwge.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/277251/original/file-20190530-69095-1tliwge.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Cost of university accommodation should also be scrutinised by the regulator, the review says.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Students feel an injustice that they are charged a higher rate of interest than the cost of funds to the government. But Augar’s charging of the lower rate during the period of study, but not afterwards, does not address the inequity and further hits the middle-income group of students disproportionately. </p>
<p>And by our calculations, a cut in interest rates throughout the repayment period to the government’s cost of borrowing (as proposed by Browne) would only cost the government about £270 per student.</p>
<h2>Quality of education</h2>
<p>In a sense though, all these specifications of the loan system are secondary to the most important issue, the quality of the <a href="https://theconversation.com/are-too-many-graduates-getting-good-degrees-91181">degree achieved</a>. Augar recognises that there are both quality improvements and efficiency savings to be made, but relies on “nudge” approaches where the Office for Students, the independent regulator of higher education in England, encourages universities to be more effective with only a delayed threat of action.</p>
<p>But it is the <a href="https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/">Office for Students</a> that itself is imposing counterproductive costs upon universities. <a href="https://theconversation.com/tef-everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-new-university-rankings-79932">The new TEF</a> (Teaching Excellence and Student Outcomes Framework) is felt by many to be a distortion, focused upon the wrong measures and upon student satisfaction rather than the integrity and quality of education. It’s like having the Civil Aviation Authority focused upon the quality of in-flight meals rather than the safety of aeroplanes. </p>
<h2>Widening participation</h2>
<p>But there could be a straight forward solution. In our recent book, <a href="https://bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/english-universities-in-crisis">English Universities in Crisis: Markets without Competition</a>, we look at the current issues facing universities and combine theoretical and data analysis, as well as insights gained from running a university, to give robust new policy proposals. </p>
<p>We propose up to a 50% write off for both fees and maintenance for students from a lower income background. By our calculations, a 50% write off could be given to 10% of students and a 25% write off to 10% of students. This would cost the government £1,125 on average per student. This is roughly what universities are spending today on <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-gap-between-rich-and-poor-students-going-to-university-has-reached-record-levels-63967">less effective</a> widening participation initiatives. </p>
<p>We also recommend student fees to be lowered, the reintroduction of maintenance awards, student number caps, cancelling the TEF and establishing different roles for different types of institutions. All of which would help to encourage excellence and ultimately benefit society.</p>
<p>
<section class="inline-content">
<img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/249586/original/file-20181210-76983-1azl8ax.png?h=128">
<div>
<header>Jefferson Frank, Norman Gowar and Michael Naef are the authors of:</header>
<p><a href="https://bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/english-universities-in-crisis">English Universities in Crisis: Markets without Competition.</a></p>
<footer>Bristol University Press provides funding as a content partner of The Conversation UK</footer>
</div>
</section>
</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/118078/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jefferson Frank does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Despite the headline cut in fees, under the Augar review, students would on average be paying more.Jefferson Frank, Professor of Economics, Royal Holloway University of LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1142402019-04-23T11:41:32Z2019-04-23T11:41:32ZNigerian universities are suffering from neglect. Why this should stop<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/269622/original/file-20190416-147508-yot3ep.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Nigeria's education system is under funded.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The level of funding of the education sector has been <a href="https://thepointernewsonline.com/?p=40771">recognised</a> as one of the major factors that contribute to quality education. This, in turn, determines growth and development of a country. It’s also been <a href="https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/education/">acknowledged</a> that quality education determines the success in achieving the sustainable development goals. </p>
<p>As Irina Bokova, the former Director General, UNESCO, <a href="http://www.aitonline.tv/post-UNESCO_demands_improvement_on_budgetary_allocation_for_education">said</a>: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Quality education, inclusive education, has to be among those for the post-2015 agenda because if we don’t put it with all the responsibility that is entrusted upon us we would not live up, in my view, to the expectations of the global community.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>In the last 40 years government funding in the education sector in Nigeria has varied between <a href="https://www.thisdaylive.com/index.php/2018/04/09/funding-of-education-in-Nigeria-below-UNESCO-recommended-benchmark-says-ministry/">6% and 9%</a> of the national budget. This is <a href="https://www.pmnewsnigeria.com/2018/11/19/budgetary-allocation-to-education-nigeria-ranks-20th-in-the-world/">lower</a> than most other African countries which range between 11% and 30%.</p>
<p>This meagre allocation is also expected to fund the country’s higher education system. </p>
<p>At independence about 60 years ago Nigeria had only two tertiary institutions. These were Yaba Higher College (founded in 1934), now Yaba College of Technology and the University of Ibadan,Ibadan was initially a College of the University of London, founded in 1948. </p>
<p>After independence in 1960, all Nigeria’s states were determined to make education accessible at all levels. This, plus <a href="http://www.worldometers.info/world-population/nigeria-population/">population growth</a> led to a significant increase in the number of tertiary institutions. </p>
<p>By 2018, Nigeria had 160 <a href="https://campusbiz.com.ng/list-of-universities-in-nigeria/">approved universities</a>. These included 43 federal universities, 48 state universities and 79 private universities. In addition, there were 113 <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_polytechnics_in_Nigeria">polytechnics</a> and 47 <a href="http://www.nbte.gov.ng/monotechnics.html">monotechnics</a> ,<a href="https://nigerianfinder.com/schools-of-health-in-Nigeria/">71</a> colleges of health technology, 153 <a href="https://net.nbte.gov.ng/IEIs">innovation enterprise institutions</a>, most of which are privately owned and 132 <a href="https://www.theinfostride.com/forum/index.php?topic=38258.0">technical colleges</a>. There were 82 <a href="https://wikivisually.com/wiki/List_of_colleges_of_education_in_Nigeria">colleges of education</a>,consisting of 22 federal, 46 under the state’s care and 14 privately owned.</p>
<p>It’s clear that the budget allocation can’t do justice to the needs of these institutions. If Nigeria is going to join the league of industrialised countries it needs to fund its education sector adequately. Most importantly, it needs to invest in solid infrastructure for teaching, research and national development. </p>
<h2>Funding</h2>
<p>The main source of funding for Nigerian tertiary institutions has been annual budgetary allocations from the state and federal governments. To complement these allocations, the federal government established an education trust fund in 1993. This agency has been supporting government tertiary institutions under the <a href="http://www.tetfund.gov.ng/index.php/2-uncategorised/2-tetfund-act">Tertiary Education Trust Fund Act</a>. This imposes a 2% education tax on the profits of Nigeria’s registered companies.</p>
<p>The fund has played a significant role in promoting quality and education standards in Nigerian tertiary institutions. These funds have been used for:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>construction and rehabilitation of buildings and laboratories, </p></li>
<li><p>procurement of teaching and research equipment, academic staff training and research development, </p></li>
<li><p>Capacity building and teacher training,</p></li>
<li><p>information and communication technology, and</p></li>
<li><p>infrastructure, including boreholes and electric power generators. </p></li>
</ul>
<p>Fees and levies are another source of income. For government-owned institutions, the <a href="http://www.pulse.ng/communities/student/free-education-if-you're-a-federal-university-student-tuition-fee-is%20now-illegal-in/1y15gsz.amp#referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&_tf=From%20%251%24s">directive</a> is not to charge tuition fees but to impose levies. The levies are approved by each governing council. This means that they vary from institution. </p>
<p>Private institutions <a href="https://nigerianprice.com/school-fees-of-private-universities-in-Nigeria/">rely substantially</a> on tuition fees and other levies. These also vary from institution to institution. They are also substantially higher than those charged in public institutions.</p>
<p>Another source of revenue is internally generated income. Institutions are expected to generate additional income from grants, donations and other fund raising initiatives. But this has proved to be an <a href="http://www.abuad.edu.ng/funding-of-universities-in-nigeria-attitude-of-nigerians-to-giving">uphill battle</a>. Nigeria has a poor culture of donations because of the belief that the government is responsible for providing free education at all levels.</p>
<h2>Fixing the problem</h2>
<p>The first major step to fixing Nigeria’s tertiary education problems would be to <a href="https://www.legit.ng/1218432-asuu-insists-15-allocation-education-sector-strike.html">increase</a> budgetary allocations to between 11% and 15%. </p>
<p>I don’t believe that raising fees is a sensible road to take. Instead, the government should reintroduce scholarships, bursaries, grants and loan schemes, as was the case before the oil boom. </p>
<p>Another shortfall in Nigeria’s higher education sector is a lack of research grants. The public and private sectors have to create an enabling environment and work together with the higher education sector to achieve the country’s development goals. This is the path taken by developed countries. </p>
<p>Another major hurdle that will need to be cleared is relations with labour unions, in particular the Academic Staff Union of Universities.</p>
<h2>The role of private institutions</h2>
<p>I also believe that private higher education institutions have a significant role to play in the delivery of quality education and national economic development. They have to be supported. While I was the chairman of the Committee of Vice-Chancellors and Registrars of Private Universities in Nigeria between 2014 to 2016, the committee proposed that private universities should also benefit from the Tertiary Education Trust Fund. </p>
<p>This money would be used for staff development and research. Loans, at single digit interest rates, could be provided for infrastructural development. </p>
<p>These recommendations were based on the believe that these institutions have the capacity to increase enrolment and cater for an increasing number of people seeking admission. This would also mean that thousands of students would no longer have to leave the country to pursue their studies elsewhere.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, the law that lead to the establishment of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund doesn’t accommodate private institutions. This needs to be amended. </p>
<h2>In conclusion</h2>
<p>It is apparent that Nigeria has failed to deliver quality education due to poor funding of the education sector and rising costs of education, among other factors. </p>
<p>There must be a methodical approach to improving education funding for Nigeria to achieve the sustainable development goals. The funds must be used appropriately and there must be accountability across the board.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/114240/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Isaac Adebayo Adeyemi does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Government funding in Nigeria’s education sector has been chronically low and needs to be changed.Isaac Adebayo Adeyemi, Professor, Nigerian Academy of ScienceLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1128942019-03-26T14:04:46Z2019-03-26T14:04:46ZEducation in Nigeria is in a mess from top to bottom. Five things can fix it<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/264646/original/file-20190319-60956-zetlly.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Nigeria’s education system is based on the (1)-6-3-3-4 formula: one year pre-primary education, six years primary, three years junior secondary, three years senior secondary, and a minimum of four years tertiary education. </p>
<p>The model had been used successfully in China, Germany and Ghana before Nigeria adopted it in 1989.</p>
<p>But it’s never been fully implemented in Nigeria. Although successive governments have theoretically upheld its objectives, none has successfully implemented the policy. </p>
<p>Nigeria’s educational system is in assorted crises of infrastructural decay, neglect, waste of resources and sordid conditions of service. The country has over 10 million <a href="https://www.unicef.org/nigeria/education">out-of-school children</a>. That’s the highest in the world. Another 27 million children in school are <a href="http://www.thecable.ng/goodbye-to-buhari-illusion">performing very poorly</a>. Millions of Nigerians are half-educated, and over 60 million – or 30% – are <a href="https://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/more-news/250397-60-million-nigerians-are-illiterates-minister.html">illiterate</a>.</p>
<p>On top of this, many eligible young Nigerians can’t gain admission into public universities. At the same time prohibitive tuition fees, among other factors, are a barrier to the country’s private universities. </p>
<p>As the Buhari-Osinbajo government starts its second term it should focus on key areas that will dig Nigeria’s education system out of the deep hole it’s in. I have identified five priorities it should attend to first.</p>
<h2>Appointment</h2>
<p>The new government should appoint an expert Minister of Education, not a political party lackey. In the past, Nigeria’s educational system has fared better under expert education ministers who earned their stripes through the system.</p>
<p>Take Professor Jubril Aminu, who served in the portfolio from 1985 to 1990. The 6-3-3-4 system was inaugurated during his tenure. Aminu also introduced “<a href="https://www.ajouronline.com/index.php/AJHSS/article/view/2881">nomadic education</a>” in 1989 for nomadic Fulani and other migrant ethnic groups. </p>
<p>Aminu was followed by Professor Babs Fafunwa (1990 to 1992). He overhauled the national education policy. He also provided room for education in mother tongue, a universal practice which most African countries have not fully implemented. UNESCO recommends education in mother tongue because of its immense <a href="https://learningportal.iiep.unesco.org/en/issue-briefs/improve-learning/curriculum-and-materials/language-of-instruction">advantages</a>.</p>
<p>Lastly, under Professor Sam Egwu (2008 to 2010), a controversial agreement was signed between the government and the union <a href="https://www.premiumtimesng.com/wp-content/files/2013/10/FGN.ASUU-INITIALED-AGREEMENT-JAN.-2009.pdf">representing the country’s academic staff</a>. The agreement – signed in 2009 after drawn-out negotiations – stipulated conditions of service and remuneration for lecturers, the autonomy of universities and how the government should fund tertiary education. </p>
<p>But successive governments have violated the terms of the pact, claiming that they didn’t have the money to meet some of its terms. Officials claimed that sections of the pact were difficult, and in some cases impossible, to implement. However, the union rejects these claims and has accused the government of using delay tactics and questionable criticisms to frustrate the deal.</p>
<h2>Funding</h2>
<p>Funding is the biggest problem confronting Nigeria’s education system. The percentage of the budget allocated to education annually is abysmally low. In 2018, only <a href="https://punchng.com/2018-budget-and-the-paltry-allocation-for-education/">7.04%</a> was allocated to education. This is far below UNESCO’s recommended <a href="https://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/headlines/251927-fact-check-unesco-ever-recommend-26-per-cent-budgetary-allocation-education.html">15%-26%</a>.</p>
<p>Nigeria’s experience with the commercialisation and neglect of government secondary and primary school levels has led to poorer education outcomes. Nor is privatisation the answer: it’s only likely to widen the gap between the rich and the poor. It will deny many children affordable quality education, increase the rate of illiteracy and reduce academic performance at the tertiary level. </p>
<p>If the government continues to privatise government-owned universities, as is already the case with the proliferation of private universities with high fees, tertiary education will become the exclusive preserve of the rich upper class. This, in a country where more than 90% of the population is currently living in <a href="http://www.thecable.ng/goodbye-to-bujari-illusion">abject poverty</a>. </p>
<p>The government should also cut wasteful expenditure. For example, I would argue that the “school children feeding programme” is a massive drain on resources.</p>
<p>Government <a href="https://www.vanguardngr.com/2018/08/fg-spends-n49bn-on-school-feeding-programme-2/">reported</a> earlier this year that it allocated 220 billion naira for the programme and of that, about 50 billion naira was wasted. This money could have be spent on more pressing problems such as building more classrooms and equipping them, supplying teaching and learning materials and improving staff welfare and remuneration. </p>
<h2>Money for research</h2>
<p>Research suffers in three ways in Nigeria. First, researchers work without sponsorship, particularly in the core sciences. The Tertiary Education Trust Fund is virtually the only source of money. The Trust funds and sponsors research projects, gives grants for research and sponsors lecturers for academic conferences, among other things. But its resources are limited and its operations are slow, highly selective and sometimes politicised.</p>
<p>Secondly, study findings are often abandoned on library shelves because the government isn’t committed to research-oriented development. Researchers don’t have the means to promote their work and research findings. </p>
<p>Third, research output is mediocre and repetitive because there are no effective measures in place to track research output nationwide. </p>
<h2>Stop incessant strikes</h2>
<p>In 1978, the Academic Staff Union of Universities was <a href="https://www.thecable.ng/asuu-strike-beginning-greater-suffering">established</a> to represent academic staff in Nigeria’s universities. <a href="http://english.ohmynews.com/articleview/article_view.asp?menu=c10400&no=370195&rel_no=1">Since then</a>, there have been strikes almost every year, disrupting the academic calendar.</p>
<p>To stop these annual disruptions, the government must increase budgetary allocations to the sector and honour agreements that have been signed with the unions. </p>
<p>The only way that strikes will be stopped is if the welfare of all staff, from teachers to lecturers, is prioritised. </p>
<h2>In conclusion</h2>
<p>If these priorities are successfully implemented, Nigeria’s education system would be well on its way to realising government’s commitment to its own policies and the United Nations’ <a href="https://undocs.org/A/RES/70/1">Sustainable Development Goals</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/112894/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dr. Omowumi Olabode Steven Ekundayo is affiliated with with the Liberation Party and works with the party as an administrative consultant. </span></em></p>Nigeria has the world’s highest number of out-of-school children and over 60 million of its citizens are illiterate. Here’s what the country can do to improve its education sector.Omowumi Olabode Steven Ekundayo, University of BeninLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1114442019-02-28T13:57:19Z2019-02-28T13:57:19ZHow Britain’s economy has wronged young people for decades<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/261437/original/file-20190228-106362-1ge2057.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Sergei Bachlakov / Shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Conditions for young people in the UK are bleak. Young people are more likely to be unemployed than all-age workers, <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/320660732_Reproducing_low-wage_labour_capital_accumulation_labour_markets_and_young_workers_Reproducing_low_wage_labour">and are more likely to be in low-paid jobs when employed</a>. National minimum wage laws allow lawful discrimination against young people as they mean a young worker can be <a href="https://www.gov.uk/national-minimum-wage-rates">paid less</a> than those over the age of 24 for doing the same job.</p>
<p>Young people have <a href="https://theconversation.com/britains-great-pension-robbery-why-the-defined-benefits-gold-standard-is-a-luxury-of-the-past-100844">worse pension opportunities</a> than previous generations and suffer from a housing market characterised by high rents and purchase costs. They are also paying record levels of tuition fees for university, as well as spending more on accessing training and skills <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/skills-in-the-age-of-over-qualification-9780199672356?cc=us&lang=en&#">in a system of provision</a> that is increasingly driven by profit. </p>
<p>Media portrayals of young people compound the problem and are rife with discriminatory language. Young people are labelled lazy, idle “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/2016/nov/28/snowflake-insult-disdain-young-people">snowflakes</a>” and are blamed for their own problems. These circumstances lead to <a href="http://speri.dept.shef.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Baby-Boomers-versus-Milennials-Kate-Alexander-Shaw.pdf">intergenerational resentment between so-called “millennials” and “baby boomers”</a>. </p>
<p>This approach is limited for two reasons. First, it ignores social class inequalities, <a href="https://theconversation.com/generation-rent-is-a-myth-housing-prospects-for-millennials-are-determined-by-class-108996">which are much worse</a>. Second, it distracts from the underlying causes of the problems facing young people which are the result of economic and political changes since the 1970s.</p>
<h2>Longer term issues</h2>
<p>The 2007 economic crisis, recession and imposition of austerity <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/documents/issues/poverty/eom_gb_16nov2018.pdf">made things harder</a> for young people – youth unemployment went up, decent jobs became scarcer, and public spending was hugely reduced in a way which <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/mar/14/austerity-poor-disability-george-osborne-tories">hit those already on the margins of labour markets</a>. But what’s less known is that conditions for young people <a href="http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.476.4036&rep=rep1&type=pdf#page=66">had actually been worsening prior to 2007</a>. </p>
<p>The financial crisis intensified things, but I’ve found <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/323619661_The_strategic_economic_governance_of_Greater_Manchester's_local_labour_market_by_the_local_state_Implications_for_young_workers">in my research that</a> issues faced by young people now are more the result of longer term changes in the UK political economy which began in the 1970s and were accelerated in the 1980s. In this period, there were fundamental changes to what the UK economy produced, which led to changes in labour markets and altered government policy.</p>
<p>Manufacturing began to decline as a major part of the UK economy from the 1960s. This decline was exacerbated by the global economic crisis in the early 1970s, leading to the government abandoning Keynesian economic policies which had been committed to full (male) employment. In the 1980s, the government <a href="https://files.warwick.ac.uk/simonclarke/files/pubs/kmcs.pdf">favoured controlling inflation at the expense of jobs</a>, leading to millions becoming unemployed.</p>
<p>This point is key because the manufacturing sector was a source of good jobs (usually for men) in large engineering firms. In these sectors there were specific, <a href="https://www.palgrave.com/gp/book/9780333451700">“sheltered”</a> entry points for young people meaning they could get a job – often with few qualifications – acquire skills and training, and progress into more senior roles. </p>
<p>Government policy in the 1980s heavily reduced the number of jobs in the public sector in areas such as local government and utilities like water, gas, electricity, communications and railways. All of these utilities were privatised and suffered heavy job losses as their new owners cut staff to turn a profit. Young people suffered as training schemes were axed and opportunities for internal progression disappeared. </p>
<p>Government policies since the 1980s have generally worsened things for young people. Labour markets have been deregulated in an attempt to make the UK compete on the basis of low wages rather than high quality work. A crucial change has been the weakening of trade unions, which act as a <a href="http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.476.4036&rep=rep1&type=pdf#page=283">mechanism to increase wages and reduce inequality</a>. </p>
<p>The election of New Labour in 1997 did little to undo the changes of previous decades and in some instances <a href="http://eprints.leedsbeckett.ac.uk/455/3/The%20Political%20Economy%20of%20Competitiveness%20and%20Social%20Mobility.pdf">further locked them in</a>. The result is young workers in 2019 experience labour market conditions that are far worse than in previous decades. </p>
<p>Employment is now primarily in the service sector where there are fewer opportunities than in manufacturing to increase productivity by using technology, and therefore productivity increases are more likely to come from intensifying working conditions. The jobs available are increasingly polarised between a section of extremely well-paid, high-level jobs and a steadily increasing amount of low-paid, low-skilled jobs. Too many young people find themselves in these jobs, <a href="https://www.jrf.org.uk/sites/default/files/jrf/migrated/files/unemployment-pay-poverty-full.pdf">often for long periods after they have ceased to be young</a>.</p>
<h2>Three solutions</h2>
<p>First, don’t dismiss the problems of young people as being the result of their age. Young people do not experience poor conditions because they are young or because they are lazy. Young people work, and they experience poor working conditions because there has been a worsening of work and employment conditions in the UK since the 1970s. Young people therefore need to be thought of as workers first and foremost.</p>
<p>Second, if conditions of work are to improve, then workers need to organise. Young people need to join trade unions, <a href="https://theconversation.com/unions-rally-to-support-young-people-in-precarious-jobs-46657">and trade unions need to actively engage with young members</a>. Unions need to redouble their efforts to organise in small, privately owned firms where young people often work. They also need to challenge the lawful discrimination of young people which occurs via the pay and pensions system.</p>
<p>Finally, the UK urgently needs to change the nature of its economy. To this end, institutional pressure from trade unions needs to be linked to larger efforts to shift the UK economy away from a reliance on esoteric finance and low-paid service sector work. To achieve this, a <a href="http://speri.dept.shef.ac.uk/2017/11/01/the-uk-needs-an-ambitious-industrial-strategy-the-final-report-of-the-industrial-strategy-commission-published-today/">detailed industrial strategy</a> and substantive programme of investment that undoes the violence of austerity would be a solid starting point.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/111444/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Edward Yates does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Young people in the UK experience some of the worst working conditions. To understand why we need to look at longer-term changes in the political economy.Edward Yates, Lecturer in Employment Relations, University of SheffieldLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/911822018-02-20T12:17:44Z2018-02-20T12:17:44ZWhat you need to know about the tuition fee review — and how it could affect students<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/206974/original/file-20180219-116365-lo3x52.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">England has one of the most expensive systems of university tuition in the world.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/download/success?src=gTAO4cBRXOHO6m29yTWV7g-1-67">shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The long awaited <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/prime-minister-launches-major-review-of-post-18-education">review of funding</a> across the whole of English higher and further education has been announced by Theresa May – signalling changes to undergraduate fees and loans (again). </p>
<p>The review fulfils a commitment made in the <a href="https://www.conservatives.com/manifesto">2017 Conservative manifeso</a> and can be seen as a move by the prime minister to assert her authority over education policy now her new team is in place following the recent <a href="https://theConversation.com/is-that-it-how-theresa-may-fumbled-her-cabinet-reshuffle-89877">reshuffle</a>.</p>
<p>The government is frustrated nearly all university courses now cost £9,250 a year and wants to encourage some sort of variation in fees. Interviewed in the <a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/education-secretary-damian-hinds-students-to-get-cheaper-places-at-university-htqxq326z">Sunday Times</a>, the new education secretary, Damian Hinds, said the fees for a degree course should reflect: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>A combination of three things: the cost (to the university) to put it on, the benefit to the student and the benefit to our country and our economy.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This approach would produce <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-43075769">variable fees</a>, with arts and social science courses being cheaper. <a href="https://theconversation.com/should-students-pay-different-fees-for-university-courses-63384">Australia already has fee bands</a> – with law, medicine, accounting and economics subjects in the highest fee band, and nursing and humanities among the lowest. “National priority” subjects – such as mathematics and sciences – have been charged at an ever lower, subsidised rate.</p>
<p>While there may be some logic to varying fees for different subjects, a model along these lines would create endless disputes. Similarly, a model based on graduate earnings would only serve to reinforce the idea that the only benefits of a degree (to the graduate and to the country) are economic.</p>
<h2>Why do we need a review?</h2>
<p>The review is unlikely to develop new funding models, rather it will help the government choose which they think is best. There are various ways of funding undergraduate education – and many have already been tried or proposed. </p>
<p>Under the <a href="https://theconversation.com/most-graduates-will-never-pay-off-their-student-loans-80582">current system</a>, students can take out loans to cover their fees and living costs. Repayments of 9% of their salary start when they earn £21,000 (rising to £25,000 from April).</p>
<p>Advocates of this model, such <a href="https://www.conservativehome.com/platform/2018/02/david-willetts-even-marx-agrees-that-corbyns-approach-to-higher-education-funding-is-unfair.html">Lord David Willets</a>, argue that a graduate only pays for their education when they are benefiting from higher earnings – so fees should not put anyone off going to university. But some groups, such as <a href="https://www.suttontrust.com/newsarchive/18000-fewer-mature-students-apply-university-since-fees-increase/">mature students</a>, are discouraged from applying by the current price tag. </p>
<p>Before this system, a means-tested fee model operated in England between 1998 and 2005. This meant a student’s fee level was based on their parents’ income. The fees were capped at £1,000 but there were no student loans available for fees. At the time, although a third of students paid nothing, this was perceived as the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/education/2002/dec/04/students.money">abolition of free education</a>. But university <a href="http://www.historyandpolicy.org/policy-papers/papers/university-fees-in-historical-perspective">fees weren’t actually new</a>. From 1962, students from wealthier families paid fees as part of the then new <a href="http://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/RP97-119/RP97-119.pdf">students grants system</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/206977/original/file-20180219-116337-1xkj7eb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/206977/original/file-20180219-116337-1xkj7eb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/206977/original/file-20180219-116337-1xkj7eb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/206977/original/file-20180219-116337-1xkj7eb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/206977/original/file-20180219-116337-1xkj7eb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/206977/original/file-20180219-116337-1xkj7eb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/206977/original/file-20180219-116337-1xkj7eb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Theresa May has announced an independent review of fees and student finance.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/download/success?src=hAgR1oYqoTECMD6ykXCWVw-1-77">Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Liberal Democrat leader <a href="https://www.standard.co.uk/news/politics/sir-vince-cable-reveals-plans-to-replace-student-fees-with-tax-a3634761.html">Vince Cable</a> has endorsed the option to replace fees with a “graduate tax”. Advocates of this idea argue it would reduce the amount younger people pay, double the amount of money currently raised for the treasury and <a href="http://www.ucl.ac.uk/ioe/news-events/news-pub/sep-2017/ioe-academics-propose-graduate-tax-replace-tuition-fees">end inter-generational unfairness</a>.</p>
<p>The current Labour policy is to <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-each-party-manifesto-means-for-student-voters-78634">abolish undergraduate fees</a> completely. But this option has already been ruled out by the Conservatives. </p>
<h2>What about universities?</h2>
<p>There are no guarantees universities will be fully compensated for the money lost through a reduction or abolition of fees. </p>
<p>This is because when higher education is funded through general public spending, it typically loses out to compulsory education. This has been true in the UK historically, and is the case in <a href="https://theconversation.com/short-sighted-budget-means-universities-cant-deliver-their-full-economic-benefit-77474">Australia</a>. </p>
<p>Universities cannot be sure that all the money raised through a graduate tax will find its way to them either. So university leaders are worried about a return to the previous situation where higher education was not as well funded at it is today.</p>
<h2>Reforming the system</h2>
<p>Perhaps the problem then isn’t the current system, but how it has been implemented. But it could easily be modified – a simple move would be to reduce the headline fee. <a href="https://londoneconomics.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/LE-Student-support-modelling-13-02-2018.pdf">London Economics</a> looked into the reduction of fees to £6,000 and found it would cost the government £1.169 billion – assuming universities received the same funding after the cut. </p>
<p>But the previous education secretary, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/education/2018/feb/18/cutting-tuition-fees-would-backfire-justine-greening-warns-theresa-may?CMP=share_btn_link">Justine Greening, has cautioned against cutting fees</a>, arguing it could harm social mobility. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/207066/original/file-20180220-116351-133n8pm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/207066/original/file-20180220-116351-133n8pm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/207066/original/file-20180220-116351-133n8pm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/207066/original/file-20180220-116351-133n8pm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/207066/original/file-20180220-116351-133n8pm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/207066/original/file-20180220-116351-133n8pm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/207066/original/file-20180220-116351-133n8pm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Theresa May hopes to end ‘outdated attitudes’ that favour universities over technical education.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/download/success?src=aOR9kL7Gj4xLPr801iunWA-1-9">Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The current system would also be viewed more favourably if the interest charged on the loans was reduced – something <a href="http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/treasury-committee/news-parliament-2017/student-loans-report-published-17-19/">recommended by the Treasury Committee of MPs</a>. The system would also receive a boost in popularity if maintenance grants were reintroduced – this would prevent poorer students graduating with the largest debts.</p>
<h2>The vocational option</h2>
<p>The strong emphasis on technical and vocational education in the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/pm-the-right-education-for-everyone">prime minister’s speech</a> may also lead to more employer sponsored routes. This could be based on the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/apprenticeship-levy-how-it-will-work/apprenticeship-levy-how-it-will-work">Apprenticeship Levy</a>, and might help reduce the funding gap universities fear. And it has been <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/2017/07/25/employers-should-help-shoulder-cost-student-tuition-fees%20benefit%20from%20hiring%20graduates%20sponsorship">argued</a> that because employers benefit from the knowledge and skills graduates bring, they should contribute to the cost of their studies.</p>
<p>The various options will be explored by a <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/review-of-post-18-education-and-funding-terms-of-reference">review group</a> who will finish their work in early 2019, so any changes will not affect students going to university this year.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/91182/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andrew Gunn has received funding from Worldwide Universities Network, the British Council (administering the Newton Fund), the UK Higher Education Academy, Kantar Public, UEFISCDI Romania, the UK Political Studies Association, the New Zealand Political Studies Association and the UK Quality Assurance Agency. Andrew Gunn concurrently holds visiting academic positions internationally.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Helen Carasso has received funding for research through an ESRC research centre.</span></em></p>Theresa May is under pressure to tackle tuition fees after Labour’s pledge to scrap them was highlighted as a key issue for young voters.Andrew Gunn, Researcher in Higher Education Policy, University of LeedsHelen Carasso, Course Leader - MSc in Higher Education Policy, University of OxfordLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/856892017-11-13T12:49:01Z2017-11-13T12:49:01ZThe student finance system needs shaking up – for the sake of poorer students<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/193067/original/file-20171102-26430-17p41l3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">shutterstock</span> </figcaption></figure><p>Students from the poorest households in England now graduate with the <a href="http://wonkhe.com/blogs/why-student-loans-are-a-confidence-trick-for-the-85/">highest levels of debt</a>. On average the poorest 40% of students owe around <a href="https://www.ifs.org.uk/uploads/publications/bns/BN211.pdf">£57,000</a> after three years of study, compared with an average of £43,000 for students from the richest third of families.</p>
<p>This outcome is due to the way the student finance system is currently set up. First time undergraduate students can borrow money for both tuition fees and maintenance. But unlike previous years when students from poorer households were also entitled to non-repayable maintenance grants, since 2016 this has been replaced with an “enhanced loan allowance” – which inevitably just leads to more debt.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/als/wp">Our recent research</a> found that coupled with higher debts for the poorest students, the inequalities in the funding system are directly impacting students’ day-to-day budgeting, which is creating a number of issues.</p>
<h2>Gaps in the system</h2>
<p>While prospective students <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0002716217696041">have been found to have significant concerns</a> about the level of debt now associated with university study, figures show <a href="https://www.slc.co.uk/media/8444/slcsfr052016.pdf">nine in ten undergraduates</a> still take out maintenance loans. This is currently a maximum of £8,430 available for full-time students studying away from home, outside of London. </p>
<p>Eligibility for this type of funding is based on household income – which implies <a href="http://www.practitioners.slc.co.uk/media/1158/201718-financial-memorandum.pdf">parents are expected to supplement</a> student budgets. In this way, for many of these <a href="https://policypress.co.uk/student-lives-in-crisis">semi-independent</a> young adults, parental support is a <a href="http://wonkhe.com/blogs/frugality-wont-solve-systemic-student-finance-problems/">financial necessity</a>. </p>
<p>But for students from low income families – not to mention <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/higher-education-network/2015/dec/14/how-can-universities-do-better-for-care-leavers">care leavers</a>, <a href="http://standalone.org.uk/">estranged</a>, and mature students – it is not always possible to fall back on contributions from parents, as one student we spoke to explained:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>For me, if my mum comes to visit me, and doesn’t need me to pay half of the petrol money, that’s a treat.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>These students are then forced to make up this often significant shortfall. Most of the time this means either indebting their future – by using up savings or dipping into private credit – or indebting their present – by having to work part-time to make ends meet.</p>
<h2>Making ends meet</h2>
<p>As part of our research into student experiences of funding university, we <a href="https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/als/wp/stp2013">followed the second cohort of undergraduates</a> under the tuition fee system that has been in place since 2012. We also continued our annual evaluations of available <a href="http://wpreu.group.shef.ac.uk/May17/finance.html">institutional financial support</a>. We saw how poorer students often only had enough savings to balance cash-flow issues across their first year. When this money dried up, students highlighted their growing reliance on commercial credit, such as interest-free student overdrafts. <a href="https://theconversation.com/more-and-more-young-people-are-falling-into-debt-but-its-not-their-fault-86006">These often start at £500 and can go up to as much as £3,000</a>. </p>
<p>We found more students also turn to term-time work over the course of their studies. Our latest institutional survey suggests 37% of undergraduates work while they study full-time. This is consistent with national estimates which show a <a href="https://www.endsleigh.co.uk/press-releases/10-august-2015/">third</a> of <a href="https://www.nus.org.uk/PageFiles/12238/NUS-HSBC-Experience-report-web.pdf">students work alongside their studies</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/193066/original/file-20171102-26432-gopshw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/193066/original/file-20171102-26432-gopshw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/193066/original/file-20171102-26432-gopshw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/193066/original/file-20171102-26432-gopshw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/193066/original/file-20171102-26432-gopshw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/193066/original/file-20171102-26432-gopshw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/193066/original/file-20171102-26432-gopshw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Balancing the books.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Term-time work does of course bring with it a number of benefits beyond improved cash-flow – think new skills, new contacts and <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13596748.2014.920582">improved time management</a>. But depending on the type of job and contract – as well as the number of hours worked and the flexibility offered – term-time work can put substantial pressure on students and <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0309877X.2012.666892">their academic work</a>. It can also impact the amount of time students have for extracurricular activities. And on top of the stresses and strains of full-time study, it can start to have an effect on <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10597-016-0052-0">mental well-being</a>. One of the students we spoke to explained the impact of having a term time job in her third year:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>It made me ill, but I had to get the money. I work all my rent out until the next finance [installment], then I count the weeks to the next finance and split whatever’s left weekly. This semester I was on £9 a week.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>University bursaries</h2>
<p>This is in part why most universities offer non-repayable bursaries to students from low income backgrounds, in line with <a href="https://www.offa.org.uk/students/introducing-bursaries/">access agreement spending</a>. Like maintenance loan entitlement, <a href="https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/undergraduate/finance/fees/2018/sheffield-bursary">how much bursaries</a> are worth – depends on a student’s declared household income. These are awarded to eligible students automatically in instalments across each academic year. </p>
<p>Our research found these university administered bursaries can help to alleviate day-to-day budgeting concerns, providing students with the extra cash they need to get by – as one student explained:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>[Without the bursary] I’d have to probably work more hours on the job, but that sometimes would clash with lectures. I guess I’d maybe have to make a decision – is the lecture important or not?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>But while these bursaries can provide important support for those most in need, eligibility and the amount available to students differs significantly from <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03075079.2014.916672?journalCode=cshe20">university to university</a>. This means poorer individuals from universities with higher proportions of eligible students receive less support.</p>
<h2>Access for everyone?</h2>
<p>As the Conservative government scrambles to appeal to <a href="https://theconversation.com/underpaid-overworked-and-drowning-in-debt-you-wonder-why-young-people-are-voting-again-85298">younger voters</a>, it has proposed further changes to the student loan repayment system – and even floated the idea of <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/david-davis-u-turn-university-tuition-fees-cancel-student-debt-a8001891.html">cancelling student debt altogether</a>. </p>
<p>But none of these proposals address the pressing issue of day-to-day budgeting while at university. As our <a href="https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/als/wp">research</a> shows, it will not be solved by students simply being “more frugal” – as <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/money/2017/oct/03/frugal-students-wont-need-help-from-their-parents-says-jo-johnson">universities minister Jo Johnson recently suggested</a>.</p>
<p>What is needed is a dusting down of the old government <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/higher-education-network/2017/sep/07/a-solution-to-the-row-over-tuition-fees-bring-back-maintenance-grants">grant system</a> – complimenting the bursaries offered institutionally – to reach those students most in need. This would help to ensure those from low income households are properly supported, and that they don’t leave university with considerably more debt than their peers.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/85689/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The poorest students are leaving university with the most debt.Rita Hordósy, Post-Doctoral Researcher in Higher Education, University of SheffieldGreg Brown, Widening Participation Researcher and Evaluator, University of SheffieldLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/852982017-10-06T13:49:20Z2017-10-06T13:49:20ZUnderpaid, overworked and drowning in debt: you wonder why young people are voting again?<p>The 2017 general election was highly unusual as far as the youth vote was concerned. The Labour party won 65% – the lion’s share – of the youth vote. The nearest comparisons are with 1964 and 1997. In both those years, Labour took 53% of the youth vote. In the 2015 election, just two years earlier, the party had won just 38% of the youth vote. </p>
<p><strong>How the under-30s vote</strong></p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/189034/original/file-20171005-14086-8lajes.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/189034/original/file-20171005-14086-8lajes.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/189034/original/file-20171005-14086-8lajes.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=322&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/189034/original/file-20171005-14086-8lajes.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=322&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/189034/original/file-20171005-14086-8lajes.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=322&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/189034/original/file-20171005-14086-8lajes.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/189034/original/file-20171005-14086-8lajes.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/189034/original/file-20171005-14086-8lajes.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Tracking the youth vote between 1964 and 2017.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Paul Whiteley</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The contrast between the youth vote in the 2010 and 2017 shows how radically youth voting patterns have changed. During this period, their turnout rose by 19%. This change in youth participation, combined with a massive swing to Labour, has unsurprisingly led some to talk of a “youthquake”.</p>
<p>What could have brought this about? Political and cultural drivers are clearly at work. That includes youth support for remaining in the EU and their preference for Jeremy Corbyn over Theresa May. Only a <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Brexit-Britain-Voted-Leave-European/dp/1316605043">quarter</a> of 18-to-25s voted to leave in the EU referendum compared with two-thirds of those over 65. </p>
<p>But economic drivers also played a crucial role. Young people, put simply, have lost out both in the economy and government policy making. Since 2010 the British government has been preoccupied with shoring up its political support among middle aged and retired voters. It has largely ignored the concerns of the young, very often dismissing them because, in the past, most young people did not vote. That all changed in 2017. </p>
<h2>Paying for education</h2>
<p>One obvious driver of youth voting is the rapid increase in student debt imposed by a government which sought to privatise higher education during the austerity years. Tuition fees were originally introduced in <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1998/30/contents">1998</a> and had reached £3,000 per year by 2006-7. At the time, it was widely accepted that the considerable graduate premium which existed in lifetime earnings justified a contribution to the costs of higher education by the beneficiaries. </p>
<p>But things radically changed in 2010 when the coalition government introduced a fees cap of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/education/2010/oct/12/browne-review-universities-set-fees">£9,000</a>. Ironically, this increased privatisation of the costs of higher education was accompanied by ever-increasing regulation, so that the less the state supports higher education the more it wants to control it. This trend culminated in a 2016 proposal to scrap maintenance grants and raise fees to £9,250 while at the same time charging interest rates of <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-40936283">6.1% on student loans</a> at a time when the Bank of England base rate was 0.25%.</p>
<p>Such a reckless disregard for the interests of more than 40% of the under-25s is quite hard to understand, particularly in light of the fate of the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/may/12/nick-clegg-university-tuition-fees-norman-lamb">Liberal Democrats</a> following their u-turn on tuition fees after they joined the coalition in 2010. </p>
<p>The bias against youth was not confined to university students. In April 2016, the minimum wage was raised to £7.50 an hour, but this change only applied to employed workers over the age of 25. The minimum wage for apprentices under the age of 19 was a meagre £3.50 and hour and this did not change. Young people were essentially ignored. </p>
<p>Another aspect of the same issue relates to the self-employed, none of whom receive the minimum wage. Historically, self-employed workers have been older than the workforce average age – but, in recent years, self-employment has grown faster among the under 25s than any other group with the exception of 40-year-olds. Between 2008 and 2015 the number of self-employed people in the UK increased from 3.8 million to 4.6 million people with part-time self-employment, often synonymous with under-employment, increasing by 88%. Thus young people have lost out on the increases in minimum wages, with many of them being underemployed and working part-time for wages that are well below average. </p>
<h2>Are you even listening?</h2>
<p>It was, therefore, no surprise that when the pollsters <a href="https://d25d2506sfb94s.cloudfront.net/cumulus_uploads/document/sac2ktha2h/InternalResults_170922_ideol_W2.pdf">YouGov</a> recently asked citizens to rank their priorities for the country, 46% of 18-24 year olds selected increasing the minimum wage to approximately £9 per hour. That compared to a national figure of 28% (and 19% among pensioners).</p>
<p>In our panel survey of the electorate conducted immediately before the 2017 general election, we asked respondents if they agreed or disagreed with the following statement: “The government treats people like yourself fairly”. We found that 18% of the under-25s agreed with this statement compared with 28% of the over-65s. In contrast, 49% of the under-25s disagreed with it compared with 32% of the over-65s. Youth have not only been left behind but many of them are aware of this fact and have a sense of grievance arising from it. The stark difference in the responses of youth and pensioners to this statement is related to the differences in the government’s treatment of them. </p>
<p>The so called “triple lock” on pensions was introduced by the coalition government in 2010. It was a guarantee to increase the state pension every year by the rate of inflation, average earnings or by a minimum of 2.5% whichever was the highest. By 2016 it produced a situation in which retired people had average incomes £2,500 higher than in 2007/8, while those who were not retired earned an average of £300 less over this period. The latter reflects the fact that real wages have been flat-lining for more than a decade.</p>
<p>Given all this it is no surprise that the 2017 election was a case of youth striking back. </p>
<p><em>Paul Whiteley is speaking at Youthquake 2017! Can young voters transform the UK’s political landscape? a joint event between The Conversation and The British Academy on October 9, 2017.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/85298/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Paul Whiteley receives funding from the British Academy</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Harold D Clarke receives funding from the National Science Foundation (US) and the ESRC (UK).</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Matthew Goodwin is a a Senior Fellow at UK In a Changing Europe. He receives funding from the ESRC and the UK In a Changing Europe programme. </span></em></p>The government has ignored this group for years, now it asks why they vote for the opposition.Paul Whiteley, Professor, Department of Government, University of EssexHarold D Clarke, Ashbel Smith Professor, University of Texas at DallasMatthew Goodwin, Associate Professor, University of KentLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/809212017-09-01T12:52:05Z2017-09-01T12:52:05ZMissing from the tuition fees debate: student well-being and the public benefits of higher education<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/184198/original/file-20170831-12201-7fiseg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Telling it like it is?</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>As the summer comes to an end and a new academic year approaches, another wave of soon to be university students are eagerly awaiting the next stage in their educational journey. </p>
<p>For many of these students, it will have been a summer of firsts: first time on holiday with their friends, first time preparing to move away from home, and the first time voting in a general election.</p>
<p>This was an election that saw youth turnout reach a <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/6734cdde-550b-11e7-9fed-c19e2700005f">25-year high</a> and many young people were motivated to vote for the Labour Party – <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/jun/01/why-young-voters-are-backing-jeremy-corbyn-labour">at least partly</a> because of a promise to abolish university tuition fees and to reintroduce maintenance grants.</p>
<p>This spike in youth political mobilisation came as a surprise to some, but less so to those who work with young people. When fees were capped at £9,000, the most disadvantaged students were looking at graduating with as much as <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/education/2017/jul/05/poorest-students-will-finish-university-with-57000-debt-says-ifs">£57,000 in debt</a>. While it is tempting to think that debt is a problem for the future, it seems to have an immediate and egregious impact on student mental health. </p>
<p>In 2015, an <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/education/2015/dec/14/majority-of-students-experience-mental-health-issues-says-nus-survey">NUS survey</a> found that 78% of students had experienced mental health issues in the preceding year. The outgoing welfare officer at my institution’s Students’ Union, Anna Mullaney, <a href="https://issuu.com/forgepress/docs/issue103/8">explained</a> that students of her generation: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Live and breathe in the context of a complex and constant mental health crisis. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>While fees are not the only factor to consider – the graduate job market, the cost of housing, and the evolving use of social media also loom large – students’ current and future financial situations are central to their concerns. And with some institutions set to raise their 2017 to 2018 fees to <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-36856026">£9,250</a> and interest rates on student loans <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/19c436f0-57e7-11e7-9fed-c19e2700005f">rising to 6.1%</a>, we can only expect this trend to deepen. </p>
<p>Yet, while the financial specifics negatively impact on student well-being, they form part of a multifaceted trend in higher education, namely, “<a href="https://theconversation.com/in-the-race-to-turn-higher-education-into-a-market-were-ignoring-lessons-from-history-35792">marketisation</a>”.</p>
<p>In 2016, then NUS vice-president for welfare, Shelly Asquith, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/education/2016/mar/13/tuition-fees-have-led-to-surge-in-students-seeking-counselling">warned</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>[The] marketisation of education is having a huge impact on students’ mental health. The value of education has moved away from societal value to “value for money” and the emphasis on students competing against each other is causing isolation, stress and anxiety. </p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Whose benefit?</h2>
<p>When fees were first introduced, it was pointed out that graduates earned comparatively more over a lifetime than non-graduates. The implication was that they should therefore carry some of the associated cost. </p>
<p>This focus on earnings is part of a wider trend where the “value” of undergraduate education is reduced to private gains made by graduates. This is <a href="http://www.keepeek.com/Digital-Asset-Management/oecd/education/education-at-a-glance-2016_eag-2016-en#page1">typically</a> in the form of higher earnings and higher rates of employment compared with non-graduates. </p>
<p>But what is missing in such talk is the sizeable <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/muriel-howard/higher-education-and-the%20_4_b_6005080.html">public benefits</a> derived from living in a society populated by more, rather than less people with university degrees. These public benefits <a href="https://www.kcl.ac.uk/sspp/policy-institute/publications/Issuesandideas-higher-education-funding.pdf">include</a> increased tax revenue, higher exports, higher productivity, lower public health costs and reduced crime rates. </p>
<p>Having more people involved in higher education also improves <a href="https://trends.collegeboard.org/sites/default/files/education-pays-2016-full-report.pdf">civic participation</a> – through voting and volunteering – and it helps to generate higher levels of public trust and tolerance, as well as making <a href="https://theconversation.com/universities-have-the-power-to-create-exciting-connected-and-inclusive-cities-heres-how-81780">cities more dynamic</a>. </p>
<h2>Public values</h2>
<p>But it is not just graduates that yield public benefits, universities as institutions do so as well. Not only do they produce and communicate world-class research, universities <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/higher-education-network/2017/jun/28/regional-economic-growth-universities-regeneration-local-economy">connect</a> localities to the wider economy and have <a href="https://www.open.ac.uk/cheri/documents/transf-final-report.pdf">the potential</a> to help attract foreign investment and support specialised skills development. </p>
<p>From a cultural standpoint, universities act as international hubs, attracting students and staff from all over the globe. Moreover, they help to foster <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/education-30417131">diplomatic goodwill</a> towards the UK (which has become scarcer since Brexit) thanks to connections with international students and international partner organisations.</p>
<p>And, despite growing pressures to fully embrace market competition, many people working in public British universities <a href="http://www.hepi.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Hepi_Protecting-the-Public-Interest-in-Higher-Education-WEB.pdf">remain committed</a> to the idea that higher education can and should serve the needs of society. They aim to educate for a life of engaged citizenship and are attached to the notion that knowledge and understanding provide the only stable grounds for technological, cultural and political progress. </p>
<h2>Common endeavour</h2>
<p>But in spite of the deep changes to the sector over the past two decades, it is not too late to recover a sense of common endeavour. At its most general, this consists of fostering economic growth through innovation, <a href="http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/+/http:/www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/media/227102/fair-access.pdf">evening out life chances</a> and working towards <a href="http://www.unesco.org/education/educprog/wche/declaration_eng.htm">solving major collective problems</a> – such as, poverty, intolerance, violence, illiteracy, hunger, environmental degradation and disease. </p>
<p>But can universities be expected to be more publicly orientated when most of their financial support comes from tuition fees? I think not.</p>
<p>As a result, we might consider the urgent need to revise the current higher education funding arrangement to both reduce the strain on students’ mental health and refocus the connection between universities and their public goals. The health of Britain’s youth as well as the country’s future place in the world may well depend on it.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/80921/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Joshua Forstenzer, as part of his institutional role, advises the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Sheffield on matters relating to the public value of higher education. He is also a Fellow of the Royal Society for the Arts.</span></em></p>We need to revisit tuition fees. The health of Britain’s youth and the country’s future place in the world may well depend on it.Joshua Forstenzer, Vice-Chancellor's Fellow for the Public Benefit of Higher Education, University of SheffieldLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/825982017-08-22T12:00:56Z2017-08-22T12:00:56ZWhy free university tuition doesn’t make economic sense<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/182782/original/file-20170821-27211-1ftomgw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Who will pay?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-illustration/tuition-fees-concept-isolated-on-white-360330935?src=-OBim5tq2SPn5cRj2Xw4zw-1-37">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Who should pay for higher education? This perennial <a href="https://econ.lse.ac.uk/staff/nb/Barr_HEReview100215.pdf">question</a> returned after the 2017 UK general election and Labour’s <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/education/2017/may/21/labour-abolish-university-tuition-fees-jeremy-corbyn-eu-uk-europe">bold proposal</a> to abolish student fees. To many, offering free university tuition to all will sound like a noble enterprise – but the reality is that it remains a political policy in search of an economic justification. </p>
<p>Two broad approaches currently dominate answers to this question. One, data-driven, quantifies how tuition fees and maintenance grants or loans <a href="https://www.ifs.org.uk/publications/5648">affect demand for higher education</a> (HE). The second considers fees philosophically and ideologically, based on beliefs about the nature of <a href="http://wonkhe.com/blogs/the-real-value-of-abolishing-tuition-fees-in-england/">education as a “good”</a> thing. </p>
<p>Neither approach examines fees holistically by asking whether or not, everything considered, fees are a price worth paying because they produce a better allocation of resources and improve social welfare. But Bipasa Datta and I have developed a framework for doing just this in the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/jpet.12244">Journal of Public Economic Theory</a> – and have found that there is no sound economic justification for free university tuition within this framework.</p>
<p>The route to this conclusion recognises that education is not a public good as economists understand the term. This is for two reasons. First, an education service is congestible: the more people who use it at a given level of investment in it, the lower they perceive its quality to be. Second, although several people can share an educational output, like a mathematics lecture, they will not always know their individual aptitudes or ability to benefit until they have actually attended it. These features must be incorporated into the analysis. </p>
<h2>Who should pay?</h2>
<p>To analyse how much education should be provided and who should pay for it in this context, we can suppose that education occurs over two periods: a “discovery” period, when people learn about their aptitude for education in compulsory schooling, and a “consolidation” period, when those revealed to be of high aptitude can benefit from HE. </p>
<p>In our analysis, we imagine that education can be supplied by one of two alternative sole providers, which fix the fees charged and the level of investment in the system. One is the private monopolist who is interested only in how much profit they can extract from “customers” – students or their parents. The alternative is the benevolent state system, which seeks to maximise social welfare and reinvest all fees obtained from students in the educational system. </p>
<p>The predictions that come out of our simple theoretical model are stark. The monopolist will always charge to supply education throughout both the discovery (school) and consolidation (university) periods. This follows directly from its pursuit of profits: it collects revenue from students while they are discovering their aptitude at school, knowing that it will subsequently lose as customers those without the skills to make it into university. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/182783/original/file-20170821-27181-adm3iu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/182783/original/file-20170821-27181-adm3iu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182783/original/file-20170821-27181-adm3iu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182783/original/file-20170821-27181-adm3iu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182783/original/file-20170821-27181-adm3iu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182783/original/file-20170821-27181-adm3iu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182783/original/file-20170821-27181-adm3iu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">It doesn’t add up.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/calculating-your-tuition-fees-golden-piggy-289858736?src=-OBim5tq2SPn5cRj2Xw4zw-1-28">Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The state behaves very differently. A benevolent state wants to protect students whose experience in compulsory education convinces them that they do not have the aptitude to continue to HE. This protection can occur to such an extent that the state provides free education in the discovery period. It thereby indemnifies those unfortunate enough to turn out to be of low aptitude. In effect, the state offers free schooling so that those who lack the aptitude to go on to HE don’t have to pay to discover that fact. </p>
<p>But if state education is free for all in the discovery (school) period and the system has to break even, then the model shows that those with enough aptitude to benefit from HE must pay the full cost of the whole state education system. In essence, to achieve the right amount of redistribution in the system, they must pay “tuition fees” while state school children pay nothing. We have not calibrated our model to predict the optimal fee level, but the parallels between these theoretical predictions and the current UK educational system, whereby university students pay fees of up to £9,250 a year, are uncanny.</p>
<p>Further results show that a monopoly education provider is likely to admit fewer students to HE, but will offer an excessively high quality education to those admitted. This occurs because the monopolist is likely to charge higher student fees and deter more students from HE than the state system. And also because having fewer students in HE results in less congestion and hence higher perceived quality of any given level of facilities provided in HE. </p>
<h2>Breaking even</h2>
<p>Some would argue that the educational system should not have to break even. But if that is the case, a state-organised regime has to raise funds from elsewhere. One possibility would be to tax other goods to finance HE. But this conflicts with the desire to redistribute income and opportunity that leads the government providing free education during the discovery period to improve the position of those with low aptitude relative to those with high aptitude.</p>
<p>Asking the low aptitude people who don’t go on to HE to pay tax on other goods to subsidise HE would raise the price and lower the quantity of these goods that everyone, including the poorest, would consume. Are those who do not benefit prepared to pay for others’ education? In fact, were tuition fees not entirely dedicated to paying for education in our analysis, the government might wish to redistribute some of those fees to those who do not enter HE.</p>
<p>Supporters of HE free of tuition fees ignore that education occurs over a long period. The groundwork for HE is laid during students’ early experience in compulsory education. This is when government can and should subsidise the system.</p>
<p>Politics is littered with totemic policies such as “right to buy” and “help to buy” that proponents stand by even when offered evidence of their deleterious consequences. The proposal to abolish tuition fees is seen widely as Labour’s masterstroke during the 2017 election. But many, maybe most, economists would not agree with it. Perhaps that’s not surprising. To misquote a famous politician: “Politics is not economics, stupid!”</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/82598/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Clive D Fraser does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>To misquote a famous politician: ‘Politics is not economics, stupid!’Clive D Fraser, Professor of Economics, University of LeicesterLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/805822017-07-07T11:03:05Z2017-07-07T11:03:05ZMost graduates will never pay off their student loans<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/177153/original/file-20170706-13395-ukmi9q.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Pexels</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>New finding show that more than 70% of students who left university last year are never expected <a href="http://www.itv.com/news/2017-07-05/majority-of-graduates-will-never-pay-off-student-loan/">to finish repaying their loans</a>. The report by the <a href="https://www.ifs.org.uk/publications/9334">Institute for Fiscal Studies</a> (IFS) shows that many of these graduates – the first cohort to pay the higher £9,000 fees – will be making repayments for 30 years. This means that a large number of graduates will be paying back their loans well into their 50s – and a growing proportion of the money lent out will never be repaid.</p>
<p>This is because, under the current system in England, when graduates earn over £21,000 they start making repayments of 9% of their salary above that threshold. And if the loan isn’t repaid within 30 years, the outstanding balance is written off.</p>
<p>These new findings add to concerns the current policy of lending large sums to students to pay for their degree – rather than funding universities directly – <a href="http://www.millionplus.ac.uk/news/blog/ceo-blog-kicking-the-fees-debate-into-touch-is-a-missed-opportunity">is not sustainable over the long-term</a>. There have been calls by members of the Conservative party for a rethink over <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/michael-gove-defends-university-tuition-fees-after-cabinet-colleague-calls-for-debate_uk_5958cd7ee4b02734df32e5f8">fees policy</a> – and some have suggested that the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/education/2017/jul/04/end-tuition-fees-universities-get-ready">end of tuition fees</a> could be on the horizon. </p>
<h2>The political debate</h2>
<p>Student fees were already back on the agenda as a result of the recent election after Labour took the lion’s share of student votes with their <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-each-party-manifesto-means-for-student-voters-78634">promise of wiping out tuition fees</a> altogether.</p>
<p><a href="https://yougov.co.uk/news/2017/06/13/how-britain-voted-2017-general-election/">Analysis by YouGov</a> has also shown that the electorate is deeply divided by age and level of education: younger and more educated people were found to be less likely to vote Conservative. Understandably, the Conservative party is now concerned it could cost them an election in future. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/177160/original/file-20170706-10491-sjagw5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/177160/original/file-20170706-10491-sjagw5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=419&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177160/original/file-20170706-10491-sjagw5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=419&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177160/original/file-20170706-10491-sjagw5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=419&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177160/original/file-20170706-10491-sjagw5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=526&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177160/original/file-20170706-10491-sjagw5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=526&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177160/original/file-20170706-10491-sjagw5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=526&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A high turnout among young voters boosted Labour’s vote share.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This has led to Damien Green, the first secretary of state – and effectively Theresa May’s deputy – saying that a “national debate” on <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/damian-green-university-tuition-fees-conservative-minister-bright-blue-think-tank-a7818891.html">student fees may be needed</a>. Green also added that the Conservatives will have to “change hard” to entice young educated voters away from Labour.</p>
<p>In response, universities minister <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/jul/04/tuition-fees-best-way-make-higher-education-fair">Jo Johnson is doubling down</a> on current policy, arguing disadvantaged young people are now <a href="https://www.offa.org.uk/press/quick-facts/">43% more likely to go to university</a> than in 2010 and that abolishing tuition fees would cost taxpayers an additional £100bn by 2025. He also points to the fact that many loans are not fully repaid, which he argues shows the government is subsiding the lowest-earning graduates.</p>
<h2>The realities of fees and funding</h2>
<p>What Johnson says is correct, there has been a big increase in the number of disadvantaged students going to university. But one of the main reasons for this is because at the same time as increasing fees, the government also sought to remove the “cap” on student numbers – so there is no longer a limit to the total number of places on offer. </p>
<p>Prior to the cap being removed in England, undergraduate education was paid for through taxes – as is still the case in Scotland – meaning the number of places had to be capped because the government only has so much money to spend.</p>
<p>So removing the cap in England has enabled universities to make more offers to young people from disadvantaged backgrounds. This has been mainly through “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/higher-education-network/blog/2014/oct/21/universities-student-contextual-data-admissions">contextual admissions</a>” – which is where information including school performance data and socioeconomic markers are used to provide background to an application.</p>
<h2>Indebted graduates</h2>
<p>The proportion of young people entering undergraduate education has <a href="http://visual.ons.gov.uk/how-has-the-student-population-changed/">grown massively over time</a> (student numbers have almost doubled since 1992) meaning those educated at university are no longer considered to be an “elite” group. In real terms this means that, as a group of voters, the student population expands every year – making them more influential. This is not just an electorate with more graduates, but one with more indebted graduates.</p>
<p>Last year maintenance grants were replaced with maintenance loans – which has increased student borrowing further. And, as the <a href="https://www.ifs.org.uk/publications/9334">IFS report</a> shows, this decision means students from the poorest backgrounds will now have debts of on average £57,000 after a three-year degree – as these students will need to take out the maximum loan amount.</p>
<p>Then there is also the issue of the interest rate charged on the loans and how much graduates earn <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/money/2016/jun/04/government-under-pressure-over-student-loans">before they start paying it back</a>. In recent years students have taken on ever-larger loans – and this, combined with <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/3f391b6e-2031-11e7-a454-ab04428977f9">rising interest rates</a>, is making it more expensive for graduates and <a href="https://amp.ft.com/content/afb7dee8-5d7b-11e7-b553-e2df1b0c3220">undermining confidence in the system</a>. As the <a href="https://www.ifs.org.uk/publications/9334">IFS reports</a>, this has hit poorer students and middle-earning graduates the hardest.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/177156/original/file-20170706-18727-1hfelt6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/177156/original/file-20170706-18727-1hfelt6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177156/original/file-20170706-18727-1hfelt6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177156/original/file-20170706-18727-1hfelt6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177156/original/file-20170706-18727-1hfelt6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177156/original/file-20170706-18727-1hfelt6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177156/original/file-20170706-18727-1hfelt6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Smile, despite that debt.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Despite this, the policy on fees isn’t about to change just yet. The Conservatives are currently occupied with dealing with consequences of some their more <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/education/2016/sep/10/grammar-schools-theresa-may-school-gates-parents-stroud">unpopular policies</a> – such as abandoning the creation of <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-40354365">new grammar schools</a> and considering what to do with their proposals for technical education. </p>
<p>But sooner or later the Conservatives will need to produce another manifesto. And the current debate, along with lessons learnt from the last election, may mean they revise their electoral offer to students and graduates – as all political parties look to adjust to this new electoral reality.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/80582/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andrew Gunn receives funding from Worldwide Universities Network, the British Council (administering the Newton Fund), the UK Higher Education Academy, the United Kingdom Political Studies Association, the New Zealand Political Studies Association and the UK Quality Assurance Agency. Andrew Gunn concurrently holds visiting academic positions internationally. This article represents the author's personal views.</span></em></p>Is it time to ditch tuition fees?Andrew Gunn, Researcher in Higher Education Policy, University of LeedsLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/794752017-06-30T01:04:50Z2017-06-30T01:04:50ZFrom public good to personal pursuit: Historical roots of the student debt crisis<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/176124/original/file-20170628-31318-1k59itt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Has student debt changed because the purpose of education has changed?</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">John Collier/Library of Congress, Ermolaev Alexander/Shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The <a href="https://berniesanders.com/issues/its-time-to-make-college-tuition-free-and-debt-free/">promise of free college education</a> helped propel Bernie Sanders’ 2016 bid for the Democratic nomination to national prominence. It reverberated during the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vk4imizwSlA">confirmation hearings for Betsy DeVos</a> as Secretary of Education and <a href="http://money.cnn.com/2017/04/04/pf/college/bernie-sanders-tuition-free-college/index.html">Sanders continues to push the issue</a>.</p>
<p>In conversations among politicians, college administrators, educators, parents and students, college affordability seems to be seen as a purely financial issue – it’s all about money.</p>
<p>My <a href="http://tadamtransnationalhistory.com">research</a> into the historical cost of college shows that the roots of the current <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/zackfriedman/2017/02/21/student-loan-debt-statistics-2017/#49139fbd5dab">student debt crisis</a> are neither economic nor financial in origin, but predominantly social. Tuition fees and student loans became an essential part of the equation only as Americans came to believe in an entirely different purpose for higher education.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/176111/original/file-20170628-31335-exg1la.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/176111/original/file-20170628-31335-exg1la.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176111/original/file-20170628-31335-exg1la.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176111/original/file-20170628-31335-exg1la.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176111/original/file-20170628-31335-exg1la.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176111/original/file-20170628-31335-exg1la.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176111/original/file-20170628-31335-exg1la.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Students took to the streets to protest their debt burdens as part of Occupy Boston in 2011.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/campusgrotto/6235272007">CampusGrotto/flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Cost of a college degree today</h2>
<p>For many students, graduation means debt. In 2012, more than <a href="https://studentloanhero.com/student-loan-debt-statistics/">44 million Americans</a> (14 percent of the total population) were still paying off student loans. And the average graduate in 2016 left college with more than $37,000 in student loan debt.</p>
<p>Student loan debt has become the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/17/business/dealbook/household-debt-united-states.html">second-largest type of personal debt</a> among Americans. Besides leading to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2014.11.027">depression and anxiety</a>, student loan debt slows down economic growth: It <a href="http://www.asa.org/site/assets/files/3793/life_delayed.pdf">prevents young Americans</a> from buying houses and cars and starting a family. Economist <a href="https://www.federalreserve.gov/econres/alvaro-mezza.htm">Alvaro Mezza</a>, among others, has shown that there is a negative correlation between <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.17016/FEDS.2016.010">increasing student loan debt and homeownership</a>.</p>
<p>The increase in student loan debt should come as no surprise given the increasing cost of college and the share that students are asked to shoulder. <a href="http://www.chronicle.com/interactives/statesupport">Decreasing state support for colleges</a> over the last two decades caused colleges to raise tuition fees significantly. From 1995 to 2015, tuition and fees at 310 national universities ranked by U.S. News <a href="https://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/paying-for-college/articles/2015/07/29/chart-see-20-years-of-tuition-growth-at-national-universities">rose considerably</a>, increasing by nearly 180 percent at private schools and over 225 percent at public schools.</p>
<p>Whatever the reason, tuition has gone up. And students are paying that higher tuition with <a href="https://studentloanhero.com/student-loan-debt-statistics">student loans</a>. These loans can influence students’ decisions about <a href="http://www.hamiltonproject.org/papers/major_decisions_graduates_earnings_growth_debt_repayment/">which majors to pick</a> and <a href="https://qz.com/680954/millennials-please-dont-waste-your-money-on-graduate-school/">whether to pursue graduate studies</a>.</p>
<iframe src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/boryX/1/" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowtransparency="true" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" webkitallowfullscreen="webkitallowfullscreen" mozallowfullscreen="mozallowfullscreen" oallowfullscreen="oallowfullscreen" msallowfullscreen="msallowfullscreen" width="100%" height="600"></iframe>
<h2>Early higher education: a public good</h2>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/176122/original/file-20170628-1009-1bsghsu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/176122/original/file-20170628-1009-1bsghsu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=438&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176122/original/file-20170628-1009-1bsghsu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=438&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176122/original/file-20170628-1009-1bsghsu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=438&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176122/original/file-20170628-1009-1bsghsu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=551&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176122/original/file-20170628-1009-1bsghsu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=551&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176122/original/file-20170628-1009-1bsghsu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=551&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Stanford University crew team, between 1910-1915. Stanford was founded on the principle of providing a free education. The university did not start charging students tuition until 1920.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/library_of_congress/2889448163">Library of Congress</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>During the 19th century, college education in the United States was offered largely for free. Colleges trained students from middle-class backgrounds as high school teachers, ministers and community leaders who, after graduation, were to serve public needs.</p>
<p>This free tuition model had to do with perceptions about the role of higher education: College education was considered a public good. Students who received such an education would put it to use in the betterment of society. Everyone benefited when people chose to go to college. And because it was considered a public good, society was willing to pay for it – either by offering college education free of charge or by providing tuition scholarships to individual students.</p>
<p>Stanford University, which was founded on <a href="https://founders.stanford.edu/stanford-history">the premise of offering college education free of charge to California residents</a>, was an example of the former. Stanford did not charge tuition for almost three decades from its opening in 1891 until 1920.</p>
<p>Other colleges, such as the College of William and Mary, offered comprehensive tuition scholarship programs, which covered tuition in exchange for a pledge of the student to engage in some kind of service after graduation. Beginning in 1888, William and Mary provided <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=RBUSAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA454">full tuition scholarships</a> to about one third of its students. In exchange, students receiving this scholarship pledged to teach for two years at a Virginia public school.</p>
<p>And even though the cost for educating students rose significantly in the second half of the 19th century, college administrators such as Harvard President <a href="http://www.harvard.edu/about-harvard/harvard-glance/history-presidency/charles-william-eliot">Charles W. Eliot</a> insisted that these costs should not be passed on to students. In a letter to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Francis_Adams_Jr.">Charles Francis Adams</a> dated June 9, 1904, Eliot wrote, “I want to have the College <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=hxpvsfxjfMAC&pg=PA22">open equally</a> to men with much money, little money, or no money, provided they all have brains.”</p>
<iframe src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/j0pYF/3/" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowtransparency="true" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" webkitallowfullscreen="webkitallowfullscreen" mozallowfullscreen="mozallowfullscreen" oallowfullscreen="oallowfullscreen" msallowfullscreen="msallowfullscreen" width="100%" height="405"></iframe>
<h2>College education becomes a private pursuit</h2>
<p>The perception of higher education changed dramatically around 1910. Private colleges began to attract more students from upper-class families – students who went to college for the social experience and not necessarily for learning.</p>
<p>This social and cultural change led to a fundamental shift in the defined purpose of a college education. What was once a public good designed to advance the welfare of society was becoming a private pursuit for self-aggrandizement. Young people entering college were no longer seen as doing so for the betterment of society, but rather as pursuing personal goals: in particular, enjoying the social setting of private colleges and obtaining a respected professional position upon graduation.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/176114/original/file-20170628-12666-1xsr7sj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/176114/original/file-20170628-12666-1xsr7sj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=866&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176114/original/file-20170628-12666-1xsr7sj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=866&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176114/original/file-20170628-12666-1xsr7sj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=866&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176114/original/file-20170628-12666-1xsr7sj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1089&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176114/original/file-20170628-12666-1xsr7sj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1089&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176114/original/file-20170628-12666-1xsr7sj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1089&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">John D. Rockefeller was instrumental in bringing about the modern day reality of college tuition and student loans.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:John_D._Rockefeller_1885.jpg">The Rockefeller Archive Center</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In 1927, John D. Rockefeller began campaigning for charging students the full cost it took to educate them. Further, he suggested that students could shoulder such costs through student loans. Rockefeller and like-minded donors (in particular, <a href="https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/001974372">William E. Harmon</a>, the wealthy real estate magnate) were quite successful in their campaign. They convinced donors, educators and college administrators that students should pay for their own education because going to college was considered a deeply personal affair. Tuition – and student loans – thus became commonly accepted aspects of the economics of higher education.</p>
<p>The shift in attitude regarding college has also become commonly accepted. Altruistic notions about the advancement of society have generally been pushed aside in favor of the image of college as a vehicle for <a href="https://thechoice.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/02/02/why-go-to-college-at-all/">individual enrichment</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/176116/original/file-20170628-3154-1p3kb3r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/176116/original/file-20170628-3154-1p3kb3r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=288&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176116/original/file-20170628-3154-1p3kb3r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=288&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176116/original/file-20170628-3154-1p3kb3r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=288&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176116/original/file-20170628-3154-1p3kb3r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=362&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176116/original/file-20170628-3154-1p3kb3r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=362&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176116/original/file-20170628-3154-1p3kb3r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=362&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Dartmouth College students carving canes on campus in the early 1920s. In the early 20th century, as more students from upper-class families began attending college for the social – rather than educational – experience, many colleges began the practice of charging tuition.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dartmouth_College_campus_-_students_carving_canes_on_the_Senior_Fence.jpg">Council of the Alumni of Dartmouth College</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A new social contract</h2>
<p>If the United States is looking for alternatives to what some would call a <a href="https://www.sanders.senate.gov/download/collegeforallsummary/?inline=file">failing funding model for college affordability</a>, the solution may lie in looking further back than the current system, which has been in place since the 1930s.</p>
<p>In the 19th century, communities and the state would foot the bill for college tuition because students were contributing to society. They served the common good by teaching high school for a certain number of years or by taking leadership positions within local communities. A few marginal programs with similar missions (<a href="https://www.goarmy.com/rotc.html">ROTC</a> and <a href="https://www.teachforamerica.org/">Teach for America</a>) still exist today, but students participating in these programs are very much in the minority.</p>
<p>Instead, higher education today seems to be about what college can do for you. It’s not about what college students can do for society.</p>
<p>I believe that tuition-free education can only be realized if college education is again reframed as a public good. For this, students, communities, donors and politicians would have to enter into a new social contract that exchanges tuition-free education for public services.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/176112/original/file-20170628-31297-ftmsl6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/176112/original/file-20170628-31297-ftmsl6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176112/original/file-20170628-31297-ftmsl6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176112/original/file-20170628-31297-ftmsl6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176112/original/file-20170628-31297-ftmsl6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176112/original/file-20170628-31297-ftmsl6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176112/original/file-20170628-31297-ftmsl6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Students from UC Davis working on a environmental restoration project in 2013. Could a tuition-free, service-oriented approach be the future of higher education?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/goodlifegarden/10842803016">Jonathan Su/flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/79475/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Thomas Adam received funding from the Friends of the Princeton University Library, the Rockefeller Archive Center, the Washington University Libraries Department of Special Collections, and the State Historical Society of Iowa.</span></em></p>About 44 million Americans are still paying off student loan debt. But it didn’t always used to be this way. As the perceived purpose of a college education changed, so too did the way we pay for it.Thomas Adam, Professor of Transnational History, University of Texas at ArlingtonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/661452016-10-04T15:45:42Z2016-10-04T15:45:42ZWhy government loans are the fairest way to fund South Africa’s students<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/140274/original/image-20161004-20230-1otaonk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">South Africa's government-run student loan scheme needs an overhaul.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mike Hutchings/Reuters</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Some people believe that student loans are little more than a revived form of <a href="https://www.dissentmagazine.org/article/student-debt-and-the-spirit-of-indenture">colonial indenture</a>.</p>
<p>In South Africa many students object to the loan component of the <a href="https://www.thedailyvox.co.za/debunking-misconceptions-surrounding-free-education/">National Student Financial Aid Scheme</a> (NFSAS) because it saddles them with debt. Even the government seems to have lost confidence in its loan scheme. Recent reforms have increased the bursary component of NSFAS and undermined its <a href="http://www.che.ac.za/media_and_publications/kagisano-series/kagisano-number-10-student-funding">recovery ratio</a>.</p>
<p>But government-backed student credit is a financial instrument well suited to funding higher education. If managed correctly it could deliver increased access, fiscal fairness and academic excellence more effectively than other funding options.</p>
<p>Other African countries where higher education used to be free have increasingly moved towards loan schemes. In countries including <a href="http://repository.uwc.ac.za/xmlui/bitstream/handle/10566/310/OumaTuitionFees2012.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y">Kenya, Nigeria, Mozambique and Zambia</a> fee-free higher education generally meant a small public higher education sector dominated by well-schooled children of the rich. </p>
<p>Students from the lower middle class paid high fees to attend private universities of <a href="http://www.sarua.org/files/publications/TACF/Chapter3_full.pdf">variable quality</a>. Even <a href="https://books.google.co.za/books?id=JL2ASXZkkncC&pg=PR18&lpg=PR18&dq=%22student+financing+of+higher+education%22&source=bl&ots=1_Ih3UpYpN&sig=a1wn5mOFNYYy5g2sdoCIa468mBI&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi_xvrSob3PAhVCF8AKHcmwAjcQ6AEIJjAC#v=onepage&q=%22student%20financing%20of%20higher%20education%22&f=false">rich countries</a> such as New Zealand, Australia and the United Kingdom have found they needed to introduce cost recovery through loans once their higher education participation rate rose above around 15%.</p>
<p>Almost all South Africans who complete an undergraduate degree are <a href="http://chet.org.za/papers/free-higher-education">guaranteed</a> employment and high lifetime earnings. This means they can afford to pay their share of the costs of their qualification -— but only once they have graduated and are reaping the benefits of a degree, not while they are still students. </p>
<p>That is why the credit model -—<em>buy now, pay later</em>—- is so well suited to financing higher education. </p>
<p>But the loan scheme needs to be underwritten by government as commercial banks won’t provide credit for tuition fees <a href="http://oxrep.oxfordjournals.org/content/20/2/264.short">without security</a>. A government-backed scheme would make tuition payments manageable by providing credit to students via a national loan agency. </p>
<p>I believe that a well-designed student loan scheme is the solution to South Africa’s higher education funding crisis. </p>
<h2>The best funding option</h2>
<p>There are several other funding options which would make student costs manageable. These include <a href="http://mg.co.za/article/2016-09-26-whats-so-crazy-about-free-tertiary-education">fee-free higher education</a>, non-repayable government bursaries and a flat-rate <a href="http://mg.co.za/article/2016-09-29-replace-student-fees-and-debt-with-a-graduate-tax">graduate tax</a>. But a government-backed student loan scheme is superior to all of these, because it can achieve four important policy goals simultaneously: fiscal fairness, higher education expansion, efficiency driven by price and increased access.</p>
<p><strong>Fiscal fairness:</strong> University education is <a href="https://theconversation.com/free-university-education-is-not-the-route-to-social-justice-49755">both</a> a private and a public good. Universities generate important benefits for the whole of society. These range from innovation and entrepreneurship to a critically-minded intelligentsia and sensitive political leadership. In the global South higher education is an <a href="http://www.sarua.org/files/publications/TACF/Chapter3_full.pdf">indispensable driver</a> of national development. </p>
<p>On the other hand, the private returns on higher education are <a href="http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/830831468147839247/pdf/WPS7020.pdf">unusually high throughout sub-Saharan Africa</a>. A South African who has completed secondary school can increase their chances of employment to near certainty and increase their lifetime earnings <a href="http://www.che.ac.za/media_and_publications/kagisano-series/kagisano-number-10-student-funding">by 140%</a> on average, if they go on to complete a degree. </p>
<p>So it is easily justifiable that up to 50% of the unit costs of university tuition should be publicly funded. But it is also fair that graduates should cover 50% or more of these costs once they have healthy earnings.</p>
<p><strong>Higher education expansion:</strong> South Africa is <a href="http://mg.co.za/article/2015-09-30-is-south-africa-the-most-unequal-society-in-the-world">one of the most economically unequal societies</a> in the world and its welfare provision remains patchy. </p>
<p>Because of this, it must prioritise public spending on the projects which attack inequality <a href="http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/502441468299632287/The-distributional-impact-of-fiscal-policy-in-South-Africa">most effectively</a>, including universal healthcare and pensions, infrastructure improvements and school-level education. Even if tax revenue could <a href="http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/free-education-is-a-possibility-20161001">be increased</a> it would be hard to justify spending the extra money on higher education. </p>
<p>Yet the country risks falling behind in the <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03797720902867419?journalCode=chee20">knowledge-driven global economy</a> if it doesn’t expand its higher education sector.</p>
<p>Government-backed student loans offer a way out of this dilemma. They enable South Africa to fund higher education expansion with money from the future – a share of graduates’ high earnings – rather than by taking it away from pressing projects in the present.</p>
<p><strong>Price as a market mechanism:</strong> If universities charge fees and are allowed to set them autonomously, price should serve as a <a href="http://oxrep.oxfordjournals.org/content/20/2/264.short">market mechanism</a>, signalling demand to suppliers and cost and quality to consumers of higher education.</p>
<p>The South African higher education sector includes a large number of suppliers, and a <a href="http://www.ajol.info/index.php/sajhe/article/view/25824">healthy range</a> of fee levels at different institutions and for different programmes of study. In these circumstances, autonomous price-setting can be expected to drive down waste and drive up quality. These positive effects would disappear if university tuition was fee-free or funded by a flat-rate graduate tax.</p>
<p><strong>Increased access:</strong> A well-designed student loan scheme would reach every school-leaver who qualifies for university but could be deterred by upfront charges. It would cover both tuition and living cost, and guarantee that repayments were manageable by making them a percentage of graduates’ monthly earnings. Such a scheme would eliminate the financial barriers to higher education, while retaining fair cost-sharing and the signalling virtues of price. It would do so by ensuring the costs of tuition fall not on poor students, but on rich graduates.</p>
<h2>A loan scheme fit for purpose</h2>
<p>South Africa’s current loan scheme has a number of design flaws. Five measures would <a href="http://www.academia.edu/26127644/Reconciling_Efficiency_Access_Fairness_and_Equality_The_case_for_income-contingent_student_loans_with_universal_eligibility">correct these</a>:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>The current low minimum earnings <a href="http://www.nsfas.org.za/content/studentsupport.html">threshold for repayment</a> of R30,000 per annum deters poorer students. It should be raised to at least the same level as the income tax threshold, <a href="http://www.sars.gov.za/TaxTypes/PIT/Pages/default.aspx">R75,000</a>.</p></li>
<li><p>The interest rate – <a href="http://www.nsfas.org.za/content/studentsupport.html">80% of the repo rate</a> which is set by the Reserve Bank – is too low. It should be increased to above the government’s cost of borrowing. This way, graduates would not only repay their loan in full but repayments would also cover some of the shortfall caused by students who drop out of university or never attain high earnings on graduation.</p></li>
<li><p><a href="http://www.nsfas.org.za/content/studentsupport.html">Up to 60%</a> of a loan can currently be converted into bursary by students who finish their degree in time with good grades. Given the dramatic private returns on a degree, this extra incentive is unnecessary. No portion of a loan should be convertible into bursary.</p></li>
<li><p>The responsibility for loan collection should rest with the South African Revenue Service.</p></li>
<li><p>Currently all outflows to the loan agency (NSFAS) are counted as expenditure on the Department of Higher Education and Training’s <a href="http://www.dhet.gov.za/Commissions%20Reports/DHET%20Annual%20Report%202014-2015.pdf">financial statements</a>. Once the loan recovery ratio has been improved the recoverable portion of loan outflows should be counted as an asset in the public accounts. The government could then increase the size and coverage of loans without any extra expenditure. The necessary cash could be raised from the <a href="https://books.google.co.za/books?id=JL2ASXZkkncC&pg=PR18&lpg=PR18&dq=%22student+financing+of+higher+education%22&source=bl&ots=1_Ih3UpYpN&sig=a1wn5mOFNYYy5g2sdoCIa468mBI&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi_xvrSob3PAhVCF8AKHcmwAjcQ6AEIJjAC#v=onepage&q=%22student%20financing%20of%20higher%20education%22&f=false">capital market</a> by either the government or the loan agency.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Student debt is not always a bad thing. An improved and enlarged loan scheme could expand South Africa’s higher education sector and break down barriers to access, while driving up academic quality. It would also allow students to graduate with an easy conscience knowing they hadn’t trodden on the poor in their ascent to a privileged position.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/66145/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>George Hull does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A “buy now, pay later” model is well suited to financing higher education. Commercial bank loans are not viable. Government-backed loans with income-contingent repayment are the fair solution.George Hull, Lecturer in Philosophy, University of Cape TownLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/658052016-09-21T13:01:12Z2016-09-21T13:01:12ZFree education is possible if South Africa moves beyond smoke and mirrors<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/138579/original/image-20160921-29753-p0frsf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">University students are fed up that their calls for free education are being ignored.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Nic Bothma/EPA</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>South Africa’s universities are once again <a href="http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/inpictures/2016/09/south-africa-students-fees-protests-turn-violent-160921071225187.html">in uproar</a>. Higher Education and Training Minister Blade Nzimande has outlined how higher education should deal with <a href="http://www.gov.za/speeches/minister-blade-nzimande-2017-university-fees-media-briefing-19-sep-2016-0000">fee increments</a> for 2017. His announcement sparked anger and a great deal of confusion. </p>
<p>Neither smoke from police stun grenades, burning buildings nor officialdom’s smoke and mirrors will solve the problem. </p>
<p>We’re surprised that many didn’t anticipate the fallout from Nzimande’s statement. There are several reasons for students’ anger toward the state and university managements.</p>
<p>The most immediate is that Nzimande’s statement dealt with fee increments but sidestepped the fundamental issue: an ongoing call to make higher education free for all.</p>
<p>It is clear to us that very little will be resolved without reference to this critical demand. All the minister has done is to kick the can further down the road, deepening students’ disquiet and provoking conflict on campuses. </p>
<p>It is disingenuous to scold students for “protecting the rich” and “increasing inequality” through their demands for universal quality education. The state cannot merely exhort citizens to patiently await an increase in economic growth and its trickle downward, while blaming “selfish” students for taking resources allocated elsewhere. </p>
<p>There are revenue sources that can be examined carefully and accessed to fund free education for all, at all levels. This can happen while other social needs are simultaneously met. The most important of these sources is raising more tax from the super rich and stopping the illicit outflow of capital. </p>
<h2>Confusion and omissions</h2>
<p>Nzimande had insisted that a special <a href="http://www.justice.gov.za/commissions/FeesHET/docs.html">presidential fees commission</a> deal with the issue of free education. The commission, which began its work in January 2016, is widely viewed as sluggish and unfocused. Its completion date has been shifted, and there have been complaints about its lack of transparency. </p>
<p>More importantly, the commission’s terms of reference are couched in the language of “feasibility”. Its mandate holds no clear and tangible commitment to exploring “fee free education”. In fact, how the commission’s mandate is understood is itself the subject of conflicting interpretations.</p>
<p>There were several other problems with Nzimande’s statement.</p>
<ol>
<li><strong><a href="https://theconversation.com/in-south-africa-university-is-open-to-rich-and-poor-but-what-about-the-missing-middle-36801">The missing middle</a>:</strong> there’s little understanding of what the minister’s announcement actually means for this group of students. Their parents earn too much money to qualify for loans from the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (<a href="http://www.nsfas.org.za/content/">NSFAS</a>), but not enough to afford university tuition without bank loans.</li>
</ol>
<p>Some people interpreted Nzimande’s statement to mean that this group would be exempt from paying any fees. This is not true. They are merely exempt from the payment of any fee increases levied for 2017. They will continue to pay the same fees as they did in 2015 and 2016.</p>
<ol>
<li><strong>Student debt:</strong> There was no clarity on the question of student debt. </li>
</ol>
<p>The approach he outlined for funding students appears to favour student loans from the financial sector. This amounts to a further entrenchment of debt-related financing and profiteering by banking and other financial institutions. Students are particularly disquieted by this element of the statement. They continue to be lent money – a far cry from any concept of free education.</p>
<ol>
<li><strong>The resource debate:</strong> Some commentators have <a href="http://www.sabc.co.za/news/a/a6f3a3004dd746f48942bd1caade0c3d/Taxpayers-might-have-to-foot-the-bill-for-free-education-20161208">argued</a> that there simply isn’t any more money available for universities. They point out that there are many competing pressures on South Africa’s fiscus which must be balanced against students’ demands.</li>
</ol>
<p>In fact, higher education in South Africa is chronically underfunded – the main reason why universities constantly increase fees. The country spends far less on this sector than many other developing countries. South Africa’s state budget for universities as <a href="http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SE.XPD.PRIM.PC.ZS">a percentage of GDP</a> is 0.75%. The Africa-wide average is <a href="http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SE.XPD.PRIM.PC.ZS">0.78%</a>; the proportion of GDP for Senegal and Ghana is 1.4% and Cuba 4.5%. </p>
<p>South Africa’s higher education budget for the 2015/16 financial year is R30 billion. If the government were to spend 1% of GDP on higher education, this would amount to R41 billion. That’s almost four times the <a href="http://www.sabc.co.za/news/a/f37b7f804bcd0c8c8c768c96fb2bb898/R5.7-billion-to-be-spent-on-shortfall-caused-by-0-tertiary-fees-increment-20162402">reported shortfall</a> caused by 2016’s freeze on fee increases.</p>
<p>The argument about competing national demands can only be used if there’s an honest, open engagement around how and what public choices are made in the utilisation of resources. This includes examining wasteful and vanity projects as well as exploring how much is lost to malfeasance.</p>
<p>More importantly, it’s time for South Africans to have a serious, open discussion about the potential sources of such resources.</p>
<h2>The super rich can pay</h2>
<p>We are academics and researchers working at a range of South African universities. In <a href="https://www.uj.ac.za/faculties/facultyofeducation/cert/Documents/CERT%20FEES%20COMMISSION%20SUBMISSION%20Hlatshwayo_Maharajh_Marawu_Motala_Naidoo_Vally.pdf">our submission</a> to the fees commission, we made it clear that one potential source is the super rich.</p>
<p>As <a href="https://www.uj.ac.za/faculties/facultyofeducation/cert/Documents/CERT%20FEES%20COMMISSION%20SUBMISSION%20Hlatshwayo_Maharajh_Marawu_Motala_Naidoo_Vally.pdf">we argued</a>, a determined state should examine the structure of personal taxation which could be levied for the country’s top 10% of income earners. </p>
<p>This income bracket, together with High Net Worth Individuals – those who have an annual income of more than R7 million or R70 million in accumulated wealth – could generate a substantial increase in available public revenue to fund higher education. </p>
<p>Such an approach, which concentrates on the structural aspects of inequality and uses tax revenues for the purpose of higher education funding, is preferable to the idea of a differentiated approach to the “rich” and “poor”. It supports the idea that those identified with the top net worth pay for their children’s education through taxation, and the distribution of public funds, rather than through an individually-based “wealthy user pays” model. </p>
<p>This is a more democratic model of public interest and public funding than individual philanthropy or subsidy, which is not sustainable. </p>
<p>We are also opposed to the idea of a graduate tax. That too will have racially differential impacts on graduates from vastly different class, gendered and social backgrounds. Some graduates also have more accumulated family and other responsibilities than others, making such a tax an enormous burden.</p>
<h2>Road map to free education</h2>
<p>We urge the Ministry of Higher Education and Training to immediately set in motion a process which will show its determination to meet the promise of “free education for all”. </p>
<p>It should set out the concrete times frames for its achievements, its immediate and further milestones; as well as the mechanism by which this process will be monitored, especially by students and their accepted representatives. Without such a road map to universal free education, there is little prospect that the present conflict will abate.</p>
<p>The ministry, in setting up this road map, must engage fully with as broad an array of students as is possible. It needs to work beyond the extant formal structures of representation which are likely to be ineffective for the purpose.</p>
<p>We would also like to urge university vice chancellors, working together with students, to call public assemblies for engaging with institutions’ most affected communities. This will elicit greater public understanding and democratic dialogue.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/65805/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>South Africa’s higher education minister has dealt with fee increments for 2017 but sidestepped students’ fundamental issue: an ongoing call to make higher education free for all.Salim Vally, Director of the Centre for Education Rights and Transformation and Associate Professor of Education, University of JohannesburgEnver Motala, Researcher, Social Sciences, University of Fort HareLeigh-Ann Naidoo, PhD Scholar, Wits School of Education, University of the WitwatersrandMondli Hlatshwayo, Senior Researcher in Labour Studies and Education, University of JohannesburgRasigan Maharajh, Chief Director: Tshwane University of Technology – Institute for Economic Research on Innovation; Node Head: DST/NRF SciSTIP CoE; and Professor Extraordinary: Stellenbosch University – Centre for Research on Evaluation, Science and Technology., Tshwane University of TechnologyZolisa Marawu, Researcher at the Centre for Integrated Post-School Education and Training, Nelson Mandela UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/656812016-09-19T15:24:31Z2016-09-19T15:24:31ZUniversity fees in South Africa: many questions, lots of anger, and fires to fight<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/138298/original/image-20160919-11127-189lj2z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Protesting students have had enough and their anger is burning hot.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">EPA/Nic Bothma</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>South Africa’s Minister of Higher Education and Training Dr Blade Nzimande <a href="http://www.gov.za/speeches/minister-blade-nzimande-2017-university-fees-media-briefing-19-sep-2016-0000">has announced</a> it is up to the country’s universities to “individually…determine the level of (fee) increase that their institutions require…”. But he cautioned that no university’s fees should be raised by more than 8% for 2017. This follows a blanket freeze on fees in 2016 that left a number of universities on <a href="http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/19-universities-could-become-dysfunctional-with-0-increase-parliament-hears-20160824">the verge of financial collapse</a>. The Conversation Africa asked Professor Suellen Shay to unpack Nzimande’s announcement.</em></p>
<p><strong>Is the minister’s decision good news or bad for South Africa’s universities?</strong></p>
<p>Overall it’s good news – or it should be. It’s good news from universities’ point of view. The 8% figure comes from <a href="https://www.enca.com/south-africa/education-council-recommends-blanket-university-fee-increase">a recommendation</a> by the Council on Higher Education. Now universities will have to make the final choice about their increases. </p>
<p>It’s also a pro-poor policy. The minister confirmed that students who benefit from the National Student Aid Financial Scheme (NSFAS) will not pay increased fees in 2017. The good news is that he added a second category of students who will not be required to pay increased fees next year: the <a href="https://theconversation.com/in-south-africa-university-is-open-to-rich-and-poor-but-what-about-the-missing-middle-36801">missing middle</a>. These are students whose parents earn too much money to qualify for loans from NSFAS but too little to actually afford university fees. Money will now be found to ensure that this group doesn’t pay increased fees in 2017.</p>
<p>I think it was a measured statement. The minister could have made a purely political announcement – one that would have been closer to the governing African National Congress’s recent support for 0% increase for the second consecutive year.</p>
<p>All of that said, the announcement hasn’t been good news to a very significant proportion of the student population. Mass meetings were being held at various campuses after the minister’s press conference so students could discuss their responses and plan their next moves. The University of Cape Town (UCT) suspended all academic activities in anticipation of the announcement. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"777841610402979840"}"></div></p>
<p><strong>What do you think students would have liked to hear from the minister?</strong></p>
<p>I don’t actually think it would have mattered what the minister said. There is such a groundswell of unhappiness among students. It started long before last year’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/fee-protests-point-to-a-much-deeper-problem-at-south-african-universities-49456">#feesmustfall</a> movement and goes back to the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/mar/16/the-real-meaning-of-rhodes-must-fall">#Rhodesmustfall protests</a> that saw a statue of Cecil John Rhodes removed from UCT’s campus. There are all these issues, of inequality, of decolonisation. </p>
<p>A significant proportion of the “born free” generation – those who were born in or after 1994 – has had it. They’re fed up on all fronts. The state, university management. We’ve left too many things for too long. It’s viewed as us doing too little, too late. Now we have a crisis. </p>
<p>The focus in the next few days will be less on making fee-related decisions or discussing the minister’s announcement. Universities will be focusing on security, on keeping campuses open or shutting them down amid safety concerns. There’s no head space to tackle students’ underlying deep seated anger and frustration. We’ll be trying to figure out the cost of security per day instead of having bigger discussions.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"777825458612277249"}"></div></p>
<p><strong>What will it take to create the space for those discussions and for taking decisions?</strong></p>
<p>We’re in a very tough space to be finding an action plan.</p>
<p>If you go back to the beginning of 2015 when students first started protesting, there was an opportunity to stand back and ask big questions; to set up ideological discussions. Now we’re fighting fires around a group of students who are saying</p>
<blockquote>
<p>You wouldn’t talk or listen to us a year ago, so now we’re not interested.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>We need a wider conversation so that we can find each other. At UCT, for instance, there’s been a call for a <a href="http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/we-want-a-shackville-trc-uct-students-20160915">Truth and Reconciliation Commission</a> mediated by people from outside the institution, giving students a chance to air their grievances and share their experiences. </p>
<p><strong>University councils will now have to figure out how high or low they set their fee increases. When do you think that will start happening?</strong></p>
<p>Never mind deciding what we do with the money: the questions right now are, ‘Are we open or closed tomorrow? How do we ensure everyone’s safety if we reopen or remain open? Should we be closing with exams coming up?’</p>
<p>I think what we’ll see is local issues – those unique to individual universities – connecting with the national issue of funding. Those will all feed into a bigger channel. What that looks like, we don’t know.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/65681/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Suellen Shay does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>South Africa’s universities have been told to set their own fee increases for 2017. That’s good news for institutions, but it hasn’t been well-received by many students.Suellen Shay, Dean and Associate Professor, University of Cape TownLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/629852016-08-01T13:23:31Z2016-08-01T13:23:31ZUnderstanding the increase in university fees – and what it means for students<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/132627/original/image-20160801-21010-1eqsnzh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Stokkete/Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Some English universities clearly saw the vote by MPs in favour of the government’s proposed higher education reforms last month, as their cue to <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-36845106">increase undergraduate fees</a> in line with inflation. Because not shortly after the vote, a number of universities <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-36856026">raised their advertised fees</a> for 2017-18 over the current £9,000 cap. This has led to <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/2016/07/20/universities-announce-hike-in-fees-above-9000-threshold">criticisms</a> that not only are vice-chancellors eager to raise fees, but also that they’re increasing them before they’ve been authorised to do so.</p>
<p>These criticisms have arisen because although Theresa May’s government comfortably won a vote last month supporting the <a href="https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/2016-07-19/debates/16071936000002/HigherEducationAndResearchBill">second reading of the Higher Education and Research Bill</a> – which aims to improve competition and choice in higher education – the Bill is not expected to finish its journey through parliament and become law until October. So it is easy to see why some people have claimed certain universities are being <a href="https://next.ft.com/content/28e33c0e-4e96-11e6-88c5-db83e98a590a">presumptuous</a> by raising their fees now.</p>
<p>Many universities are keen to have fee rises as soon as possible to prevent further declines in their revenue – which have occurred because the undergraduate fee was fixed at £9,000 in 2012, making its real current value about £8,500 because of inflation. But how much the inflation uplift actually is will be decided by HM Treasury – the government’s economic and finance ministry – meaning that universities cannot use their own inflation figures to inform their prices.</p>
<p>And while it is correct that universities will be able to increase their fees for the 2017-18 year, when introducing the Bill to the House of Commons, the new secretary of state for education, <a href="https://theconversation.com/dear-justine-greening-heres-what-you-should-do-as-education-minister-62514">Justine Greening</a>, made clear that universities will only be able to access these inflation-linked rises if they demonstrate they are providing “<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-universities-will-have-to-pay-more-attention-to-the-quality-of-their-teaching-47186">high quality teaching</a>”. </p>
<p>This means that teaching quality will be assessed according to the new <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/teaching-excellence-framework">Teaching Excellence Framework</a> (TEF) – a new process designed to measure and improve the student experience and teaching quality in higher education. So if universities can prove they are performing satisfactorily, they will be rewarded with the power to raise fees – but only by inflation. </p>
<h2>Performance-based fees</h2>
<p>In theory, the first year of the TEF will be a light touch exercise that all universities – whose books are in order – should be able to pass. And once they have done this, they can then raise the fees. It is in anticipation of this, that some universities have started amending their price lists already.</p>
<p>But linking TEF to fee rises in this way creates a predicament for universities. This is because fees are to be determined by TEF results, and universities have to wait until they’ve been through the TEF process to have the increases confirmed. So there is a reason to hold back on announcing fee rises. Yet, they need to inform potential students of the fee level before they apply, so they must advertise their prices as accurately as possible in advance. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/132629/original/image-20160801-19880-1h8uq2f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/132629/original/image-20160801-19880-1h8uq2f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/132629/original/image-20160801-19880-1h8uq2f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/132629/original/image-20160801-19880-1h8uq2f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/132629/original/image-20160801-19880-1h8uq2f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/132629/original/image-20160801-19880-1h8uq2f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/132629/original/image-20160801-19880-1h8uq2f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The majority of universities would be allowed to charge £9,250.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Matej Kastelic/Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This is important because it relates to another part of government’s higher education <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/higher-education-success-as-a-knowledge-economy-white-paper">reforms</a>: to ensure universities provide sufficient product information to <a href="https://theconversation.com/power-to-the-students-how-the-nature-of-higher-education-is-changing-60031">consumers</a> before they make their choice.</p>
<p>It also raises the question of who should decide undergraduate tuition fees. Universities being allowed to set their own fees in a free market was <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2010/oct/22/david-willetts-tuition-fees-cap/">ruled out</a> in the last parliament. And a proposal in last year’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-the-teaching-excellence-framework-will-work-50323">Green Paper</a> to transfer the power to set fees to ministers, from a vote of MPs in the House of Commons, has been abandoned. This means any future increases in fees above inflation will need the approval of parliament, as in the past.</p>
<h2>How fees work</h2>
<p>Here’s how it currently works. The government maintains control of undergraduate fees for domestic students because they’re a part of a public system of student finance. This is where students make a choice to go to university, but pay nothing. The government pays the fees to the university and gives the student an “income contingent” loan – which means after graduation, the government takes the money out of the graduate’s salary with the amount paid back each month dependant on the graduate’s earnings.</p>
<p>The government will not be able to collect all the money it paid out in fees – about 75% is recovered – because an increasing number of graduates don’t repay all the money loaned to them. This system means higher education is free at the point of use and the costs are equally shared between graduates and government. The large sums of money being lent out, and the fact some will never be repaid, means this system requires controls on fee levels to protect the system and public finances. </p>
<p>Add into a system such as this fees rising well above inflation and allegations universities have recruited students with promises of high graduate salaries which do not materialise, and you have a similar situation to the <a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-the-us-student-loan-problem-and-how-we-got-here-32676">US</a> – where some argue higher education resembles a “<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/thaddeus-mccarthy/higher-education-is-a-gia_b_7438866.html">Ponzi</a>” or “<a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/sherylnancenash/2012/05/17/is-higher-education-a-giant-pyramid-scheme/#3282c1895d21">Pyramid</a>” scheme. So capping fees can be seen as a way of controlling graduate debt and preventing a similar situation arising in the UK.</p>
<h2>Fees of the future</h2>
<p>Following the new prime minister’s ministerial <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/full-list-of-new-ministerial-and-government-appointments">reorganisation</a>, higher education policy (but not science) has moved into the Department for Education. Jo Johnson remains as the minister for universities and science, but is now based in two government departments. This is good for joined up government and policy continuity as it enables Johnson to implement the Conservative university reform agenda he personally developed. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/132631/original/image-20160801-21010-1j4g7kg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/132631/original/image-20160801-21010-1j4g7kg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=419&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/132631/original/image-20160801-21010-1j4g7kg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=419&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/132631/original/image-20160801-21010-1j4g7kg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=419&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/132631/original/image-20160801-21010-1j4g7kg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=526&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/132631/original/image-20160801-21010-1j4g7kg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=526&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/132631/original/image-20160801-21010-1j4g7kg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=526&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The government plans to allow ‘better’ universities to raise fees.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Rawpixel.com/Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>And with the new government now in place, and the higher education reforms moving through parliament, the future of tuition fees looks much clearer. We can now expect to see annual increases in fees by inflation for several years to come.</p>
<p>So what this ultimately means for students is that increases in undergraduate tuition fees now look inevitable – even if only by inflation.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/62985/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andrew Gunn receives funding from Worldwide Universities Network, the British Council (administering the Newton Fund), the UK Higher Education Academy, the United Kingdom Political Studies Association, the New Zealand Political Studies Association and the UK Quality Assurance Agency. Andrew Gunn concurrently holds visiting academic positions internationally.</span></em></p>Here’s why some English universities are raising their tuition fees again.Andrew Gunn, Researcher in Higher Education Policy, University of LeedsLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.