18 March 2005
Nine out of ten universities intend to charge tuition fees at the highest possible rate of £3,000 a year – but they insist that poorer students will be supported with a generous package of bursaries.
Access agreements, approved by the Office for Fair Access, and released on March 17, showed that 92% of universities will impose the £3,000 maximum fee on courses beginning in 2006. Just eight institutions will charge less.
While there is little variation in fee level, the range of bursaries to help students from low-income families varies markedly. Offa director Sir Martin Harris said: 'The market between institutions has developed in student support areas rather than fee areas.'
Although the 'typical' bursary level is £1,000 a year, Oxford, Cambridge and Durham will help their poorest students with support worth £3,000. At the other end of the scale, 30 institutions are offering less than £500 a year. Under the new system, students from families with an income of less than £15,200 will also receive a £2,700 maintenance grant from the government.
Offa, established last year to ensure that the new fee regime does not deter poorer students from entering higher education, has so far approved 111 universities' plans for fee and bursary levels. A further seven institutions remain to have their plans approved.
According to Offa calculations, tuition fees will net universities £1.3bn by 2009, of which £300m will be released in non-repayable student support, benefiting almost half of new entrants.
Harris said: 'The amount that has been set aside for bursaries has significantly more than exceeded my original expectation of £200m – a great tribute to the hard work which has been put in by institutions to ensure that no applicant to higher education from an under-represented group is deterred on financial grounds.'
He added that Offa would be monitoring the new arrangements very carefully.
Professor Ivor Crewe, president of Universities UK, said he was proud to see universities providing such generous and diverse support packages.
'Universities UK is confident that the removal of upfront fees, together with higher levels of grants and loans, will encourage more students from disadvantaged backgrounds to apply to university,' he said.
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