Good bursaries failing to bring in less well-off

A study by the Office for Fair Access (OFFA) reveals that young people from disadvantaged backgrounds are not influenced by the size of a bursary on offer when picking universities.

Bursaries to help poorer students were introduced in 2006, the same time as top-up fees came into effect, with the aim of ensuring that this group of people were not put off applying to higher education.

A second aim was to encourage institutions which had more to do to widen the make-up of their intake – usually the more elite universities – to offer bigger bursaries to encourage poorer students to apply and take up a place.

Previous studies have found that generally, students have not been deterred from going to university on financial grounds.

But the findings published today reveal that disadvantaged youngsters are not more likely to apply to the universities offering the largest bursaries.

In addition, poorer students are not more likely to choose institutions with high financial support packages once they are made the offer of a place.

The study, Have bursaries influenced choices between universities, analysed millions of applications and university choices made by young people.

It found a 7.6 per cent participation rate among poorer young people at lower bursary institutions, compared to a 3.2 per cent rate at higher bursary universities.

The report said: "Since the introduction of bursaries, disadvantaged young people – who would be more likely to qualify for bursaries – have increased their participation most rapidly in the third of institutions that offer lower bursaries.

"There have only been small increases for disadvantaged participation in the higher bursary third of institutions and overall young people from disadvantaged backgrounds are no more likely to enter these institutions today than in the mid-1990s."

Advantaged young people were 5.1 times more likely to enter a high-bursary institution than disadvantaged youngsters in 2009/10, it showed.

The findings also showed that the average bursary of institutions applied to by richer youngsters was 1,150, while for the poorer students it was 950.

Sir Martin Harris, director of Fair Access, said: "This new analysis shows that the larger bursaries generally offered by the most selective universities have not changed students' decision-making when applying and choosing between offers."

He called for universities offering the largest bursaries to consider diverting funds to outreach work to encourage poorer pupils to apply.

Sir Martin added: "While this research shows that the current level of bursaries has not influenced choice between universities, larger bursaries or fee waivers for the most disadvantaged could have an important role to play in the future under any new student finance system."

National Union of Students president Aaron Porter said: "This report amounts to an admission that OFFA has failed in its mission of ensuring fairer access to universities following a tripling of fees just four years ago. OFFA has been both a toothless and complacent regulator, allowing a chaotic patchwork market in bursaries to flourish on its watch."