Asked by: Matt Western (Labour - Warwick and Leamington)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate she has made of (a) changes in the level of the cost of living for students in the (i) last and (ii) next 12 months and (b) the rate of inflation for students.
Answered by Robert Halfon
The government recognises the additional cost of living pressures that have arisen this year which have impacted students. The Government publishes Equality Impact Assessments of changes to student finance each year. More information can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/higher-education-student-finance-2023-to-2024-equality-analysis.
The department has not directly assessed the impact of changes in the cost of living on higher education (HE) students, but closely monitors the evidence produced by other organisations and uses this to inform decision-making. For example, the Office of National Statistics (ONS) published research from interviews with students named ‘ONS student voices research’ and Wonkhe, along with Pearson, have published research on connections between students' financial struggles, wellbeing, and academic progress titled ‘Financial struggles make it harder for students to connect and engage in their university community’. A link to the latter publication can be found here: https://wonkhe.com/blogs/financial-struggles-make-it-harder-for-students-to-connect-and-engage-in-their-university-community/.
Having considered reports such as these, the department has made available £276 million of Student Premium and Mental Health funding for the 2023/24 academic year, to support students who need additional help including disadvantaged students. This funding will complement the help universities are providing through their own bursary, scholarship and hardship support schemes.
We have frozen maximum tuition fees for the 2023/24 and 2024/25 academic years to deliver better value for students and to keep the cost of higher education under control. By 2024/25, maximum fees will have been frozen for seven years.
Additionally, the Government has continued to increase living costs support each year with a 2.8% increase for the 2023/24 academic year. Decisions on student finance had to be taken alongside other spending priorities to ensure the system remains financially sustainable and the costs of HE is shared fairly between students and taxpayers, not all of whom have benefited from going to university.
The government is considering options for loans and grants for living and other costs for the 2024/25 academic year and will be making an announcement in due course.
Found: Impact of increases in the cost of living on further and higher education students
Feb. 05 2024
Source Page: Introducing SLC’s Charter for Customers who Require Additional SupportFound: We manage and deliver loans and grants for further and higher education, undergraduate and postgraduate
Apr. 23 2024
Source Page: I. Universal Credit guidance April 2024 [update of previous guidance, deposited Oct 2023, DEP2023-0791]. 204 docs. II. Letter dated 15/04/2023 from Jo Churchill MP to to the Deposited Papers Clerk regarding documents for deposit in the House libraries. Incl. file list at Annex 1. 9p.Found: Students : Eligibility, conditionality, and student income Contents Eligibility Conditionality
Dec. 14 2023
Source Page: Office for Students independent review: terms of referenceFound: Office for Students independent review: terms of reference
Found: T echnical Education •Office for Students •Student Loans Company Limited Schools Responsibilities
Written Evidence Oct. 18 2023
Inquiry: University research fundingFound: and Welsh students are for the Welsh Government.
Written Evidence Apr. 26 2024
Inquiry: Disability employmentFound: DYE0021 - Disability employment National Film and Television School Written Evidence
Mar. 05 2024
Source Page: Scottish Local Government Finance Statistics 2022-23Found: Other Funding' includes government grants paid to joint boards and income received through NDR TIF and
Mentions:
1: Baroness Garden of Frognal (LDEM - Life peer) The Liberal Democrats have called for grants, rather than loans, to encourage adult reskilling, concerned - Speech Link
2: None It might arguably, therefore, improve confidence on the part of students and potential students in future - Speech Link
3: None disabled students, students from ethnic minorities and those from lower-income backgrounds. - Speech Link
4: Baroness Barran (CON - Life peer) , as will targeted support grants such as the disabled students’ allowance and the childcare grant. - Speech Link