Widening Participations Winners & Losers Will Cooling University - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

The Autumn Statement Widening Participation’s Winners & Losers

Will Cooling – University of Leicester, Senior WP Policy and Partnerships Officer

www.le.ac.uk wic1@le.ac.uk

What’s In A Name

• .

The Big Winner – Mature Students

• Age threshold for PGT loans now raised to 60

years old and is available for distance learning

• Students can now access the maintenance loan

for part-time study.

• ELQ scrapped for STEM subjects
• Don’t forget about Nursing though!

PGT Loans – A Sector Triumph

• Age Threshold Lower
• Distance Learning Courses Covered
• Loans Can Be Used In All UK Institutions
• Repayment Rate Lowered To 6%
• PhD Loans System to complement Research

Council Funding

PGT Loans – Warning From History?

• Are PGT Loans for EU

Students to next Tuition Fee Loans for New Providers?

The Big Loser – Post ‘92 Universities

• High-cost subjects to be protected as HEFCE

Teaching Grant is cut

• Increased support for part-time study likely to

increase College Higher Education

• Threat to Nursing Student Recruitment
• Student Opportunity Funding to be cut in half

– Universities to have less freedom on how to spend it

End of the Maintenance Grant

• End of the Maintenance Grant was announced

in the previous budget

• Contrary to expectations this was included in

the BIS Departmental Cuts

• Is it right to increase poor students’ graduate

debt to provide more people with support?

– Remember only those who earn to have paid all their loan back under the old system will pay more.

Danger for the Future

• The Government took the decision to

freeze the repayment threshold at £21,000

• This goes against the previous

commitment to let it increase in line with inflation

• Whatever the merits of this change the

Government has shown a worrying nonchalance about retrospective changes

• How meaningful are our

promises to disadvantages students about degree terms and conditions?

Green Paper

• Time of change for higher education
• Merger between OFFA and HEFCE is less

meaningful than it sounds – they already work extremely closely together

• Key battleground will be protecting the role of

the Director of Fair Access

• Government shows genuine ambition for

widening participation but the lack of interest in disabled student outreach is deeply concerning

Questions?