Universities put up £70m to help poorer students

New figures from the Office for Fair Access show the amount the region’s universities spend on fee waivers, bursaries or accommodation discounts will rise from £45m this year to around £71m by 2015.

OFFA announced details of the new “access arrangements” yesterday as it confirmed the majority of Yorkshire universities planned to charge maximum fees of £9,000 next year.

Ministers claim that by demanding universities do more to increase access to higher education to deprived students they will bring about a “step change” in the country’s social mobility.

But one university boss in Yorkshire has dismissed this as “simply not true”.

Huddersfield University’s deputy vice chancellor Prof Peter Slee warned students would instead be faced with rising fees and declining choice under the Government’s higher education reforms.

Fees are set to soar to up to £9,000 a year from 2012, from £3,375, as universities are hit by a massive funding cut to their teaching budgets which will make their more reliant on income from students.

Any university which wants to charge more than £6,000, however, has had to set out how they will ensure poorer students are not priced out of higher education.

OFFA figures published yesterday show how much universities plan to spend on student support up to 2015.

Nationally bursaries and financial support from the government’s National Scholarship Programme, worth £150m a year, and matched funding and further support from universities will reduce the average fee cost to £7,793.

Simon Hughes, the advocate for access to education and Liberal Democrat deputy leader, said: “I welcome the almost £200m of extra money which universities will be investing in measures to improve access to higher education next year.

“All universities must understand that this extra investment has now to lead to results ... In future universities which do not deliver greater access must face penalties.”

Leeds University is to offer the biggest package of financial support in the country – spending £16.9m by 2015. It is also thought to be the only institution in the country which is offering a choice of three types of support: A bursary, fee waiver or accommodation discount of £3,000 to students from the poorest households.

Although Leeds is spending the most in the region on financial support, Huddersfield is committing the biggest share of its fee income by 2015.

OFFA figures show that 34 per cent of the money the university receives through its fee above £6,000 will be spent on supporting deprived students.

However Prof Slee has dismissed claims the new access arrangements will have an impact across the country.

“This isn’t going to increase social mobility,” he said. “You can’t argue that creating a system where the cost goes up by almost three times is going to help people from less well off backgrounds go to university. It just isn’t going to do that.”

He also criticised the Government’s plan to withdraw 20,000 places from universities and open them up to anyone who can deliver degrees for below £7,500.

Prof Slee said: “These will be given to private providers and further education colleges. Some FE colleges do a good job but they are not equipped for large numbers of higher education students. They do not have the libraries, the facilities or the student support.

“The Government is attempting to rig the market by enforcing 20,000 places for below £7,500 but this will actually mean fewer students will be able to go to the university of their choice.”

Sheffield University’s spending on outreach and financial support for students is set to almost double between now and 2015. Although the university is charging top level fees of £9,000 around a third of students are expected be eligible for financial support.

A Hull University spokeswoman said “substantial financial support” would be made available through fee waivers, scholarships and bursaries and the university will continue to raise aspirations of school pupils through outreach work.

The Government has said that universities can only give £1,000 of cash support to each student with its National Scholarship funding meaning the majority of it will be spent on fee waivers.

NUS president Liam Burns, said: “Fee waivers are being used in a cynical attempt to cover up the mess made when the Government trebled the tuition fee cap, instead of properly supporting less-wealthy students.”