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Student budgets and widening participation: Comparative experiences of finance in low and higher income undergraduates at a Northern Red Brick University
Abstract
Drawing on a thematic analysis of longitudinal qualitative data (ntotal=118), this paper takes a ‘whole student lifecycle’ approach to examine how lower and higher income students at an English Northern Red Brick University variously attempted to manage their individual budgets. It explores how students reconcile their income - in the form of loans, grants and bursaries - with the cost of living. Four arenas of interest are described: planning, budgeting, and managing ‘the student loan’; disruptions to financial planning; the role of familial support; and, strategies of augmenting the budget. In detailing the micro-level constraints on the individual budgets of lower and higher income undergraduates, the paper highlights the importance of non-repayable grants and bursaries in helping to sustain meaningful participation in higher tariff, more selective, HEIs. It also supports an emerging body of literature that suggests that the continuing amendments to the system of funding Higher Education in England are unlikely to address inequality of access, participation, and outcome.
... It has now been more than a decade since the publication of this review. In the meantime, the UK higher education landscape has experienced significant changes (Harrison, 2017;Hordósy & Clark, 2018). For example, the National Collaborative Outreach Programme has established partnerships between universities and colleges to create higher education outreach programmes for widening participation, building on the previous National Networks for Collaborative Outreach and AimHigher initiatives. ...
... Increases in sixth-form college attendance and Business and Technology Education Council Level 3 qualifications (Smith, Joslin, & Jameson, 2015) may also have had wideranging effects on participation and attainment in higher education. Since Richardson's (2008b) review was published, tuition fees in England have dramatically risen, strongly impacting the experiences of lower-income students in particular (Hordósy & Clark, 2018). At the same time, attempts have been made to push for increased inclusivity and diversity in higher education curricula, such as the National Union of Students' 'Why is My Curriculum White?' campaign, which has been running since 2015. ...
... The present article reviews the literature since 2008 on the roles of gender and ethnicity as determinants of students' participation in UK higher education and of their academic attainment, as measured by their class of final degree. Given increasing suggestions about the influential role of social class (Bathmaker et al., 2016;Blackburn, Kadar-Satat, Riddell, & Weedon, 2016;Burke, 2015;Hordósy & Clark, 2018), we also expand on prior work by summarising what is known about the influence of social class on participation and degree attainment in UK higher education. Finally, we explore the intersectionality among gender, social class, and ethnicity and outline known interactive effects of these three factors on participation and attainment. ...
A literature review published in 2008 outlined known relationships between gender, ethnicity, and academic attainment in UK higher education. In the period since this publication, many changes to the higher education sector have occurred, including raising tuition fees, an increased focus on widening participation, and an increasing interest in diversifying the curriculum. There is a need for an updated and expanded literature review to highlight whether the relationships between gender, ethnicity, and academic attainment remain the same one decade later. This article synthesises the current literature related to the impact of gender, social class, and ethnicity on higher education participation and academic attainment. We highlight the important role of intersectionality in understanding overarching trends. Altogether, this literature review shows that there are persisting inequalities in both participation and attainment based on gender, social class, and ethnicity. To conclude, we provide several suggestions for improving our understanding of these phenomena in the decades to come.
... According to the consumer group Which?, the average annual expenditure for students at Durham is £10,560, 7 yet the maximum maintenance loan is only £9,203. 8 Non-repayable grants and bursaries have a positive effect on student retention, engagement and success (Hochstein and Butler 1983;Hordósy and Clark 2018). Of our participants, 44 per cent received some form of non-repayable grant or scholarship from the university. ...
... Lower income students are known to suffer financially at university compared to higher income students. Non-repayable grants and bursaries are important for increasing participation, access and outcomes, and can also be used for joining clubs and societies (Hordósy and Clark 2018). Our respondents wanted to see accommodation prices reduced and a more effective distribution of bursaries and scholarships to students across the country. ...
Targets set by the UK Office for Students require highly academically selective UK universities to enrol a greater percentage of students identified as least likely to participate in higher education. Such students are typically at a disadvantage in terms of levels of academic preparedness and economic, cultural and social capital. Drawing on eighteen interviews with first-generation students at Durham University, we identify five sites of pressure: developing a sense of belonging within the terms of an elite university culture, engagement in student social activities, financial worries, concerns about academic progress, and self-transformation. Based on these insights, we argue that support for first-generation scholars will require that universities recognise and redress elitist cultures that discourage applications from prospective first-generation scholars and prevent those who do enrol from having the best educational and all-round experience.
... Appropriate financial support in the form of maintenance funding and financial aid for tuition are key elements of student success (Dougherty and Callender, 2017;European Commission/EACEA/Eurydice, 2017). Systems without substantive financial support provision increase the risk of students having to rely on familial contributions, or to undertake part-time work throughout their studies (Antonucci, 2016;Hordósy;Clark, 2018), meaning that students from poorer backgrounds are left with the choice of indebting their future, or paying with their time throughout the duration of their studies. ...
... Appropriate financial support in the form of maintenance funding and financial aid for tuition are key elements of student success (Dougherty and Callender, 2017;European Commission/EACEA/Eurydice, 2017). Systems without substantive financial support provision increase the risk of students having to rely on familial contributions, or to undertake part-time work throughout their studies (Antonucci, 2016;Hordósy;Clark, 2018), meaning that students from poorer backgrounds are left with the choice of indebting their future, or paying with their time throughout the duration of their studies. ...
The existence of persistent and entrenched inequalities within the Hungarian education system is revealed in international comparison, thereby highlighting the strong link between students’ socio-economic background and educational outcomes. University entry and progression are patterned on student background, with a lack of systematic and robust support for disadvantaged students. Drawing on two rounds of the Active Youth survey of full-time university students (in 2015 and in 2019), this paper explores the diverse educational and career strategies of young people. After giving an overview of tertiary participation in relation to socio-economic background, it explores the financial experiences of university students, pointing to the related difficulties and mitigation strategies. The paper also looks at future migration plans, including their aim, planned duration, and key push and pull factors. The results point to social closure, along with large differences in student experiences throughout university, with international student mobility remaining the privilege of more advantaged students. The lack of equitable student pathways into, through, and beyond Hungarian higher education correspond to several policy areas. One conclusion is that the financial support system needs to be made more effective through better targeting and the provision of sufficient funding for students in need.
... Some students, in turn, make savings in the form of deposits [11]. This behavior is aimed at optimizing the budget, intertemporal selection of budget items during study periods and summer months. ...
... Hordósy & Clark found that in order to achieve the goal of obtaining financial independence, students "paid" with their personal time, while the time spent on work disrupted sleep patterns, negatively affected their studies, and limited interaction with peers [11]. ...
Introduction. The problems of scientific analysis, where the subject of study is the financial independence of undergraduates, mainly focuses on two directories: the study of the academic performance of undergraduate and the factors affecting it; financial condition of undergraduate depending on tuition fees. In modern studies, the issues of financial independence of students, their budget are not given due attention. The employment of students is often seen as one of the factors that negatively affect their academic performance, or in the context of forced work caused by high tuition fees.
In today's pandemic realities, the aspect of the financial independence of students is actualized, while the problem of students' labor activity during training is of scientific and practical interest as a forced measure to maintain their well-being in order to gain financial independence.
Materials and methods. The survey was attended by: 2-4-year students of the Bachelor's degree program "Applied Economics and Finance" (38.03.01 Economics) of the Institute of Economics and Management of Ural Federal University was carried out. The total number of students in 2-4 courses on the program is 284.
Results and discussion. As a result of the study, the key motives for obtaining financial independence have been identified, which boil down either to the forced need to find finances, or to the desire to obtain financial independence and the formation of labor and financial competencies; formulated the basic financial strategies of students in relation to budget planning, budget optimization - passive as an orientation towards transfers from parents and the state, active as a search for grant support or going to work; it was found that the problem of choosing between work and study as an additional criterion included opportunity costs, measured as deterioration in academic performance; it was found that significant financial support from parents (family) and its increase with an increase in student spending forms a "soft budget constraint" for a student, reducing the motivation to gain financial independence. It was founded that more than 20% of 2-4-year students have part-time gob, while 2/3 of the working students do not “sacrifice” their studies for work. This is due to the fact that the motivation for choosing a job is voluntary. The survey data allowed to conclude that students are focused both on the improving of labor and financial competencies. It was revealed that the main source of income for their budget is transfers from parents (more than 90%) but own earns are less than 6% of the student budget. It should be noted that there was a large range in the students’ income: from 2,500 to 36,000 rubles. This may be due to both the income of the family in which the student lives and the model of financial support of the parents: they admit the independence of students according to their budget or the autonomy of their student children is practically absent.
Conclusion. The results of this study are aimed at comprehending the educational, scientific, labor activity of a student, taking into account the motives for obtaining financial independence, which can be taken into account in the design of individual educational trajectories of students, the development of grant projects and offers of internship, educational loans, which together ensure the strengthening of the financial independence of students.
... It has been shown that almost one third of gamblers using the internet to gamble believe it is easier to lose money online (Gainsbury et al., 2012). This is a problem for students who typically have minimum income, struggle with budgeting, and often rely on loans during their time at university (Hordósy & Clark, 2019). It is therefore perhaps unsurprising that the potential to lose money was shown to weaken the prospect of engaging in mobile gambling behavior. ...
University students demonstrate high rates of gambling behavior, which can have negative health consequences. Mobile gambling has rapidly expanded, and most students own a device. It is therefore important to understand the key psychological factors underlying students’ mobile gambling. This information could be used to inform interventions. Psychological determinants and beliefs were identified using the Reasoned Action Approach (RAA: Fishbein & Ajzen, 2010). Study 1 identified the modal salient behavioral, normative, and control beliefs. Thirty-five participants completed a questionnaire concerning each belief category. Content analysis identified 27 modal salient beliefs; Eleven behavioral, nine normative, and seven control. Study 2 assessed the predictive utility of the RAA and key beliefs using a cross-sectional design. Participants completed questionnaires assessing RAA determinants (N = 473) and mobile gambling behavior (N = 388). Constructs accounted for 66% and 56% of the variance in intention and behavior, respectively. Attitude (affective and instrumental) and injunctive norm significantly predicted intention, and intention and autonomy significantly predicted behavior. A number of key beliefs were identified including “Bonus offers and promotions” and “Access and availability of apps”. The studies provide important information regarding the psychology underlying students’ mobile gambling behavior. Interventions could target the identified key beliefs to change the behavior.
... Evidence also suggests that university experiences and outcomes can vary by both class and location. Indeed, the assessment of 'Assumed Parental Contribution' that is embedded within the post-2012 changes -parents are expected to contribute to student budgets -necessarily reproduces those inequalities that already exist between students, with wealthier families better able to offer such support (West et al. 2015;Antonucci 2016;Hordósy & Clark Forthcoming). ...
This article critically examines how undergraduate students in a red brick university in the North of England have experienced the threefold rise in tuition fees since 2012, with particular attention on how they have begun to understand and negotiate the process of indebtedness. Drawing on a corpus of 118 interviews conducted with a group of 40 undergraduates across their whole student lifecycle, analysis is directed toward examining how students have variously sought to respond to the policy, reconcile the debt with their decision to study at university and, begin to negotiate a life of everyday indebtedness. The findings are located in the context of wider neoliberal policy trends that have continued to emphasise ‘cost-sharing’ as a mechanism for increased investment within the higher education sector generally, and individual fiscal responsibility specifically. Given the lack of any other viable career pathways for both lower and higher income students, they had to accept indebtedness as inevitable and take what comfort they could from the discourses of ‘foregone gain’ that they had been presented with. Evidently, and as the students in our sample well recognised, whether those discourses actually reflect the future remains to be seen. There is also no evidence within our data that students anticipated the subsequent changes to the repayment terms and conditions – a fact that is likely to compound feelings of economic powerlessness and constrain their capacity for financial agency yet further.
This article, through phenomenographic research methodology explores mature male students' experiences of financial barriers in English universities 1, further exacerbated by factors of class, race and age. Up until now, phenomenography has mainly been used in educational research, exploring students' conceptions of learning. This study employs phenomenography to explore student experiences in different contexts. The study provides first-hand insights into the experiences of mature male students and the impact of financial barriers on them as there is limited literature, with the exception of a few researchers (Burke, 2009; Egerton, 2001; Gannon, 2014; Laming et al. , 2019) on the experiences of mature male students. The voices of mature male students in specific contexts, as in the case of English universities, have been marginalised owing to multiple, intersecting factors. In drawing qualitative data from 15 mature male students studying at three Russell Group universities, this study offers important insights from students' perspectives on governmental and institutional fees and funding structures where a) the day-to-day living cost takes precedence over deferred debt of tuition fees, and b) financial challenges lead to further academic and social challenges. By raising awareness that education can be a transformative experience only when financial challenges are addressed, this study proposes small-scale interventions at the institutional level to enhance mature male students' university experiences.
Presenting the results from a mixed methods case-study, this paper draws together insight from the fields of ‘BME attainment’ and ‘student transition’ to explore how differential levels of degree attainment might be experienced within the context of a higher tariff university in England. Across a five-year period (2010/11–2014/2015) it compares the levels of degree attainment between UK-domiciled White and Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) students in relation to prior attainment, qualification type, and socioeconomic group (POLAR 3). A range of qualitative data then outlines a series of dynamic factors that can, when compounded, serve to constrain BME students’ capability to negotiate their way through very particular university landscapes. These include: academic expectation and preparedness; the pedagogic terrain; pastoral engagement and sense of belonging finance; and, the lived experience of diversity and ‘othering’. The paper argues that attainment gaps should not be viewed in terms of an individual deficit that needs to be ‘fixed’ or ‘filled’. Instead, greater attention needs to be directed toward enhancing the capacity of higher tariff universities to respond positively to the needs of a changing demographic.
Drawing on a longitudinal research project that followed the undergraduate entrants of 2013 into, and through their university time, this paper provides a novel conceptualisation of transformative transitions via looking at the four dimensions of non-linearity, multiplicity, diversity and structure. To do so, it builds on Archer’s (2000, 2003, 2012) relational realist approach and work on reflexivity to show how students select and merge a diverse set of personal concerns to arrive at a modus vivendi. This capstone paper closes a series of publications from a four-year tracking study that collected interview data from a diverse group of 40 students on a yearly basis (n1=40, n2=40, n3=38, n4=33) at an English northern red brick university. The paper explores the changing focus of student experiences, from the social aspects of acclimatisation, to learning to be academic, and finally, becoming a graduate. The results presented here also point to the structural enablements and constraints that higher education institutions and policymakers should mitigate in responding to the inequalities of access and experience. In the context of a large-scale societal crisis, such as the ongoing pandemic, it is key that we understand how university can remain a transformative experience for all students.
The publication of the long-awaited Augar Report into post-18 education and funding provides a timely opportunity to examine the literature and evidence on the role of bursaries in widening participation (WP) in higher education. WP policies have sought to address discrepancies in the take-up of HE between different social groups, and the differential experiences (and outcomes) of students from different backgrounds, once they are at university. The effectiveness of bursaries to address this depends not only on their ability to compensate for financial disadvantage but also on the impact their provision can have on young people’s attitudes and students’ integration at university. This systematic review takes into account not only recent academic research undertaken in the area but also acknowledges the vast amount of research that governmental and non-governmental organisations undertake in relation to WP. The findings highlight the persistence of socioeconomic disparities in HE participation and, even amongst lower-income students who do attend, emphasise the continuing challenges they face to “fit in” to university life. Before provision of financial support can be effective, a consistent method to identify the most vulnerable groups of students is necessary. Whilst bursaries can overcome the financial barriers to participation, other non-financial challenges remain and the effectiveness of bursaries alone to promote greater diversity in HE is not yet proven. The strength-in-diversity the WP agenda aims to support will only be realised with a fairer distribution of quality and prestige across the sector and a more thorough “de-classing” of the institution of the university.
This paper details a small-scale research project that explores the student transition into higher education (HE), delivered in a further education college (FE), and considers whether the requirements of transition at this level impacts on emotional wellbeing. As such, it aims to contribute to the growing body of research on HE-in-FE from the perspective of student transition and emotional wellbeing. The data drawn on in this paper were collected by a questionnaire, administered at two points in the first semester, to measure levels of anxiety in students, alongside a further questionnaire designed to evaluate the effectiveness of bespoke academic skills input aimed at supporting the transition into HE. From quantitative and qualitative data, key findings identify factors that influence students’ emotional responses to HE, including those that exacerbate an those that mitigate negative emotional responses. Significantly, the research identifies academic factors, rather than personal or social issues, as being critical to students’ emotional experiences during the transitionary period.
In 2012, the UK government introduced the National Scholarship Programme - a scheme that aimed to ensure that young people from families with low household incomes would not be discouraged from entry into higher education by increases in tuition fees. Drawing on longitudinal evidence in the form of eighty semi-structured interviews conducted in an English Red Brick University over a three-year period, this paper uses Jenkins’ work on social identification to examine the process es by which these post-2012 undergraduates used and experienced the financial support made available to them as part of the Programme. The paper explores how the initially categorical label associated with being a student in receipt of financial assistance was variously understood and experienced as they moved through their degree. Not only did the additional finance allow students to avoid excessive part-time work, recipients also felt increasingly valued by the institution when they began to recognise how their financial circumstances differed from their peers, and that the university had made this provision for them. It remains to be seen whether these, more intangible, benefits of non- repayable financial support will transfer to the system of ‘enhanced’ loans that have subsequently replaced maintenance grants and the National Scholarship Programme.
There is a continuing trend within higher education policy to frame undergraduate study as ‘human capital investment’—a financial transaction whereby the employment returns of a degree are monetary. However, this distinctly neoliberal imaginary ignores well-established information asymmetries in choice, non-monetary drivers for education, as well as persistent inequalities in access, participation, and outcome. Non-linearity and disadvantage are a central feature of both career trajectory and graduate employment. This paper draws on the findings of a longitudinal, qualitative project that followed 40 undergraduate, home students over a period of four years in an English Red Brick University. Exploring the nature of career development over the whole student lifecycle and into employment, the paper examines how career strategies are experienced by lower-income students and their higher-income counterparts. It provides a typology of career planning and, in comparing the experiences of lower- and higher-income students, demonstrates some of the processes through which financial capacity and socio-economic background can impact on career planning and graduate outcomes.
There has been an increasing emphasis placed on the skills and attributes that university students develop whilst studying for their degree. These ‘narratives of employability’ often construct extracurricular activity (ECA) as an essential part of gaining postgraduation employment. However, these future-oriented drivers of engagement often neglect the role ECAs have within contemporary student life-worlds, particularly with respect to lower income students. Drawing on a three-year longitudinal study that tracked a cohort of 40 undergraduates throughout their student lifecycle, this paper examines how students in a Northern English Red Brick University understood the purposes of ECA, and how they chose to engage with it. The results suggest ECA appears to be somewhat stratified in terms of timeliness of engagement and motivation to participate. By extension, the paper argues that those recent attempts to measure and use ECA to narrate future ‘global’ employability, are likely to reproduce wellestablished inequalities. As such, any further pressure to engage with ECAs solely in terms of employability could result in the further marginalisation of lower income students.
Research among prospective UK undergraduates in 2002 found that some students, especially from low social classes, were deterred from applying to university because of fear of debt. This paper investigates whether this is still the case today in England despite the changing higher education landscape since 2002. The paper describes findings from a 2015 survey of prospective undergraduates and compares them with those from the 2002 study. We find that students’ attitudes to taking on student loan debt are more favorable in 2015 than in 2002. Debt averse attitudes remain much stronger among lower-class students than among upper-class students, and more so than in 2002. However, lower-class students did not have stronger debt averse attitudes than middle-class students. Debt averse attitudes seem more likely to deter planned higher education participation among lower-class students in 2015 than in 2002.
Since 2010, Myanmar has been transitioning from an authoritarian military regime towards a parliamentary democracy. Several education policies have been launched as part of this political transformation process, including the reform of Myanmar’s flagship higher education institution, Yangon University. This article investigates the reform of Yangon University. Through so doing, we examine a key node in Myanmar’s higher education system, and contribute to academic debates over higher education reforms in countries undergoing political transformations. The article draws on qualitative data obtained from stakeholders involved in the reform of Yangon University, and uses Arnhold et al.’s ‘educational reconstruction framework’ to conceptualize the reform process. It is argued that while improvements have been made to the physical infrastructure, there has been a failure to consider the ideological and psychological reconstruction of the university, which staff and students alike deem essential to transforming long standing authoritarian practices, and creating a constructive learning environment.
Background: Previous research has shown a relationship between financial difficulties and poor mental health in students, but most research is cross-sectional.
Objectives: To examine longitudinal relationships over time between financial variables and mental health in students.
Methods: A national sample of 454 first year British undergraduate students completed measures of mental health and financial variables at up to four time points across a year.
Results: Cross-sectional relationships were found between poorer mental health and female gender, having a disability and non-white ethnicity. Greater financial difficulties predicted greater depression and stress cross-sectionally, and also predicted poorer anxiety, global mental health and alcohol dependence over time. Depression worsened over time for those who had considered abandoning studies or not coming to university for financial reasons, and there were effects for how students viewed their student loan. Anxiety and alcohol dependence also predicted worsening financial situation suggesting a bi-directional relationship.
Conclusions: Financial difficulties appear to lead to poor mental health in students with the possibility of a vicious cycle occurring.
Worldwide participation in higher education now includes one-third of the age cohort and is growing at an unprecedented rate. The tendency to rapid growth, leading towards high participation systems (HPS), has spread to most middle-income and some low-income countries. Though expansion of higher education requires threshold development of the state and the middle class, it is primarily powered not by economic growth but by the ambitions of families to advance or maintain social position. However, expansion is mostly not accompanied by more equal social access to elite institutions. The quality of mass higher education is often problematic. Societies vary in the extent of upward social mobility from low-socio-economic-status backgrounds. The paper explores the intersection between stratified social backgrounds and the stratifying structures in HPS. These differentiating structures include public/private distinctions in schooling and higher education, different fields of study, binary systems and tiered hierarchies of institutions, the vertical ‘stretching’ of stratification in competitive HPS, and the unequalising effects of tuition. Larger social inequalities set limits on what education can achieve. Countries with high mobility sustain a consensus about social equality, and value rigorous and autonomous systems of learning, assessment and selection in education.
Strategies employed by middle-class families to ensure successful educational outcomes for their children have long been the focus of theoretical and empirical analysis in the United Kingdom and beyond. In austerity England, the issue of middle-class social reproduction through higher education increases in saliency, and students’ awareness of how to ‘play the game’ of enhancing their chances to acquire a sought-after graduate position becomes increasingly important. Using data from a longitudinal study of working-class and middle-class undergraduates at Bristol’s two universities (the Paired Peers project), we employ Bourdieu’s conceptual tools to examine processes of capital mobilisation and acquisition by students to enhance future social positioning. We highlight middle-class advantage over privileged access to valued capitals, and argue that the emphasis on competition, both in terms of educational outcomes and the accrual of capital in the lives of working-class and middle-class students, compounds rather than alleviates social inequalities.
This article critically analyses the impact of reforms to the student financial support system in English higher education. Comparative analysis of financial support mechanisms and patterns of outreach engagement with groups underrepresented in higher education show a marked deterioration in the levels of cash support available and an increasingly focus on the brightest poor students (in the form of merit aid) at the expense of the generality of poorer students since the new support programme came into place. This can be seen as part of a wider policy shift away from generic widening participation to the targeting of specific cohorts to raise the attainment level of intakes or to meet recruitment shortfalls. The findings are located in a context of a (near) trebling of tuition fees, stagnation in overall student numbers and the promotion of market mechanisms, all of which can be seen as a challenge to the notion of social justice through the higher education system.
This study examined how full-time university students cope with part-time working during term time. A qualitative approach was used to examine how students simultaneously manage the two activities, and how part-time working affects their academic study. Semi-structured interviews were used to obtain data from a sample of 30 undergraduate business students. The findings confirm that students merely satisfice many aspects of their lives, with time set aside for reading and assignment preparation being areas that are most likely to suffer in order to allow students to engage with part-time work. Possible options available to higher education institutions to adapt to, and remedy, the situation are explored in the conclusion.
Recent changes in the English tuition fee policies have spurred a debate on the impacts on student choices for higher education. Expectations range from a sharp decrease in participation in higher education to relatively little change in student demand. We surveyed 1549 year 12 sixth-form students from four institutions spread geographically across England. We have broadened the approach to the study of student choice by not only considering the impact of going to higher education or not, but have included in our choice scenarios the consideration of looking for cheaper higher education alternatives and of looking for higher education abroad. This brings our study from a focus on widening participation and access into the realm of the dynamics of increasing choice in a globalised world. The data suggest that financial issues are key influencers. We conclude that the English higher education system may be confronted with significant changes in student choice patterns, given the study’s finding that students show high levels of anxiety and consequently consider a much broader range of study options: within or outside higher education; in publicly funded or for-profit institutions; and in the UK or elsewhere.
The new student funding regime introduced by the 2004 Higher Education Act in England is predicated on the accumulation of student debt. Variable tuition fees, repaid by student loans, will increase average student loan debt on graduation. This article examines how fear of debt and financial constraints affect prospective students’ choices of where and what to study. Using data derived from a survey of about 2000 prospective students, it shows that financial issues constrain lower social class students’ choice of university far more than those from other social classes. It demonstrates that fear of debt is related to two key financially‐driven decisions – applying to a university with low living costs, and applying to one with good term‐time employment opportunities – but only for students from low‐income families. However, concerns about debt do not influence their choice of qualification and subject. The article concludes that low‐income students are more likely than their wealthier peers to perceive the costs of higher education as a debt rather than an investment.
Understanding how policy can affect university participation is important for understanding how governments can promote human capital accumulation. In this paper, we estimate the separate impacts of tuition fees and maintenance grants on the decision to enter university in the UK. We use Labour Force Survey data covering 1992-2007, a period of important variation in higher education finance, which saw the introduction of up-front tuition fees and the abolition of maintenance grants in 1998, followed some eight years later by a shift to higher deferred fees and the reinstatement of maintenance grants. We create a pseudo-panel of university participation of cohorts defined by sex, region of residence and family background, and estimate a number of different specifications on these aggregated data. Our findings show that tuition fees have had a significant negative effect on participation, with a £1,000 increase in fees resulting in a decrease in participation of 3.9 percentage points, which equates to an elasticity of -0.14. Non-repayable support in the form of maintenance grants has had a positive effect on participation, with a £1,000 increase in grants resulting in a 2.6 percentage point increase in participation, which equates to an elasticity of 0.18. These findings are comparable to, but of a slightly lower magnitude than, those in the related US literature.
Thematic analysis is a poorly demarcated, rarely acknowledged, yet widely used qualitative analytic method within psychology. In this paper, we argue that it offers an accessible and theoretically flexible approach to analysing qualitative data. We outline what thematic analysis is, locating it in relation to other qualitative analytic methods that search for themes or patterns, and in relation to different epistemological and ontological positions. We then provide clear guidelines to those wanting to start thematic analysis, or conduct it in a more deliberate and rigorous way, and consider potential pitfalls in conducting thematic analysis. Finally, we outline the disadvantages and advantages of thematic analysis. We conclude by advocating thematic analysis as a useful and flexible method for qualitative research in and beyond psychology.
Since the recent changes in the system of student finance in England, studies focusing on the impact of increased debt and
the effect of the bursary system have concluded that the chances of achieving stated policy objectives in relation to widening
and increasing levels of participation have been reduced. This study considers the full financial package rather than particular
elements, using survey data collected soon after students are expected to apply to university. The study finds that many students
do not take into account the ‘financial package’ when making decisions on whether to apply and which university to apply to.
They appear to be just as ignorant of grants and loans as bursaries; a large proportion of students with a perceived family
income that would have entitled them to a full or partial maintenance grant did not consider themselves eligible (42 and 53%
respectively). Students seem to have got the message that going to university is costly and will leave them in debt, but in
many cases they do not have the information on what may moderate the costs for them. It will only be possible for policy to
work if support can be provided that effectively influences the decision heuristics of students.
KeywordsStudent finance-Widening participation-University applications-Decision heuristics
Conventional political wisdom has it that educational expansion helps to reduce socioeconomic inequalities of access to education
by increasing equality of educational opportunity. The counterarguments of Maximally Maintained Inequality (MMI) and Effectively
Maintained Inequality (EMI), in contrast, contend that educational inequalities tend to persist despite expansion because
those from more advantaged social class backgrounds are better placed to take up the new educational opportunities that expansion
affords (MMI) and to secure for themselves qualitatively better kinds of education at any given level (EMI). This paper sets
out to test the predictions of the MMI and EMI hypotheses against empirical data for the case of Britain where higher education
expanded dramatically during the 1960s and again during the early 1990s. The results show that quantitative inequalities between
social classes in the odds of higher education enrolment proved remarkably persistent for much of the period between 1960
and 1995, and began to decline only during the early 1990s, after the enrolment rate for the most advantaged social class
had reached saturation point. Throughout this same 35year period, qualitative inequalities between social classes in the
odds of enrolment on more traditional and higher status degree programmes and at ‘Old’ universities remained fundamentally
unchanged. In short, social class inequalities in British higher education have been both maximally and effectively maintained.
KeywordsHigher education–Expansion–Differentiation–Social class–Maximally and effectively maintained inequality–Britain
This article seeks to explore the ways in which the current financial regime for supporting students impacts on the choices they make while studying for their first degree. It focuses particularly on the financial choices students make (or feel forced to make) in relation to work, debt and economising. It argues that the degree of discretion that students have is crucially related to the financial support they receive from their parents. However, even where parents are generous, most students seek an additional source of income to increase their autonomy in spending decisions. Parental attitudes are found to be important determinants of the ordering of drawing on other income. There is found to be a financially vulnerable group of students whose fragile financial position largely results from their parents being unable to offer much financial support; this group in particular finds their time at university characterised by considerable amounts of paid work and increasing debt.
Concerns over the impact of debt on participation in higher education (HE) have dominated much of the debate surrounding the most recent reforms of financial support for full-time students in England, including the introduction of variable tuition fees. Yet few studies have attempted to explore this issue in a statistically robust manner. This article attempts to fill that gap. It examines the relationship between prospective HE students' attitudes to debt, and their decisions about whether or not to enter HE. Using data derived from a survey of just under 2,000 prospective students, it shows how those from low social classes are more debt averse than those from other social classes, and are far more likely to be deterred from going to university because of their fear of debt, even after controlling for a wide range of other factors. The article concludes that these findings pose a serious policy dilemma for the Westminster government. Their student funding policies are predicated on the accumulation of debt and thus are in danger of deterring the very students at the heart of their widening participation policies.
Drawing together a mix of internationally renowned contributors, Social Policy Review 28 provides an up-to-date and diverse review of the best in social policy scholarship. This book contains three parts. The first part focuses on the state of affairs in each of the pillars of the welfare state. It assesses to what extent the traditional ‘evil giants’ have been defeated, which new problems and unintended consequences have emerged and how this affects the policies. The focus on four policy areas are: pension policies, health care, income benefits and housing. The second part draws together a selection of papers from the Social Policy Association’s Annual Conference. The social policy implications of the outcome of the 2015 UK General Election was a major issue facing delegates. Indeed, the final day of the conference coincided with the new government’s first budget, during which details of the £12 billion of ‘welfare’ cuts promised during the election campaign were outlined. The four chapters in Section Two offer insights into what this agenda might hold and how scholars might best interrogate it. The third part explores the shift to individualised funding in different international settings, and also explores the validity of the underlying assumptions, which have driven the shift towards greater use of individualised funding. This part also offers a range of empirical lenses through which to examine these debates. Together these chapters help to deepen an understanding of individualised approaches within social policy.
There has been an increasing emphasis placed on the skills and attributes that university students develop whilst studying for their degree. These ‘narratives of employability’ often construct extracurricular activity (ECA) as an essential part of gaining postgraduation employment. However, these future-oriented drivers of engagement often neglect the role ECAs have within contemporary student life-worlds, particularly with respect to lower income students. Drawing on a three-year longitudinal study that tracked a cohort of 40 undergraduates throughout their student lifecycle, this paper examines how students in a Northern English Red Brick University understood the purposes of ECA, and how they chose to engage with it. The results suggest ECA appears to be somewhat stratified in terms of timeliness of engagement and motivation to participate. By extension, the paper argues that those recent attempts to measure and use ECA to narrate future ‘global’ employability, are likely to reproduce wellestablished inequalities. As such, any further pressure to engage with ECAs solely in terms of employability could result in the further marginalisation of lower income students.
Neoliberalism--the doctrine that market exchange is an ethic in itself, capable of acting as a guide for all human action--has become dominant in both thought and practice throughout much of the world since 1970 or so. Writing for a wide audience, David Harvey, author of The New Imperialism and The Condition of Postmodernity, here tells the political-economic story of where neoliberalization came from and how it proliferated on the world stage. Through critical engagement with this history, he constructs a framework, not only for analyzing the political and economic dangers that now surround us, but also for assessing the prospects for the more socially just alternatives being advocated by many oppositional movements.
The concept of precarity has gained momentum and challenges social scientists to consider the effects of labour-market insecurity across classes and welfare arrangements. This article discusses the varieties of experiences of precarious work by young people in university and identifies in which cases they are also experiences precarity. It is one of the first studies of its kind to investigate the material triggers of inequality by comparing young people’s experiences across countries (England, Italy and Sweden) and by looking at the welfare mixes available to young people who are working at university. Through a comparative qualitative research involving young people from different socio-economic backgrounds and ‘welfare mixes’, the article shows that experiences of precarity concern a minority of young people who have an absolute necessity to rely on labour-market sources, due to the lack or insufficiency of state support and family sources. It also identifies: a group of young people who feel pressure to get precarious jobs to fill a decline in family resources; and a convenient use of precarious jobs suiting the circumstances of young people with abundant family resources. Overall, the research found that precarity is deeply connected to young people’s welfare mixes.
This article critically examines how undergraduate students in a red brick university in the North of England have experienced the threefold rise in tuition fees since 2012, with particular attention on how they have begun to understand and negotiate the process of indebtedness. Drawing on a corpus of 118 interviews conducted with a group of 40 undergraduates across their whole student lifecycle, analysis is directed toward examining how students have variously sought to respond to the policy, reconcile the debt with their decision to study at university and, begin to negotiate a life of everyday indebtedness. The findings are located in the context of wider neoliberal policy trends that have continued to emphasise ‘cost-sharing’ as a mechanism for increased investment within the higher education sector generally, and individual fiscal responsibility specifically. Given the lack of any other viable career pathways for both lower and higher income students, they had to accept indebtedness as inevitable and take what comfort they could from the discourses of ‘foregone gain’ that they had been presented with. Evidently, and as the students in our sample well recognised, whether those discourses actually reflect the future remains to be seen. There is also no evidence within our data that students anticipated the subsequent changes to the repayment terms and conditions – a fact that is likely to compound feelings of economic powerlessness and constrain their capacity for financial agency yet further.
In the greatest social change of the last twenty years about half of Europe’s young people now attend university. Their lived experiences are however largely undocumented. Antonucci travelled across six cities and three European countries-England, Italy and Sweden - to provide the first ever comparison of the lives of university students across countries and socio-economic backgrounds. Contrasting students’ resources and backgrounds, this original work exposes the profound social effects of austerity and the financial crisis on young people. Questionnaires and first person interviews reveal that, in contrast with what assumed by HE policies, participating in university exacerbates inequalities among young people. This work is a wake-up call for re-thinking the role of higher education in relation to social justice in European societies.
Drawing together a mix of internationally renown contributors, Social Policy Review 28 provides an up-to-date and diverse review of the best in social policy scholarship. With specially commissioned reviews of pensions, health care, conditionality and housing this book examines important debates in the field. A themed section on personalised budgets examines the introduction and consequences of personalisation of funding from the perspectives of the UK, Australia and Norway and considers the impact of such funding on vulnerable groups such as the elderly and the homeless. Published in association with the SPA this comprehensive discussion and analysis of the current state of social policy will be of keen interest to academics and students.
This book analyses the immediate challenges from headlong cuts, root-and-branch restructuring and the longer-term pressures from population ageing. It demonstrates that a more humane and generous welfare state that will build social inclusiveness is possible and shows how it can be achieved.
This book explores higher education, social class and social mobility from the point of view of those most intimately involved: the undergraduate students. It is based on a project which followed a cohort of young undergraduate students at Bristol's two universities in the UK through from their first year of study for the following three years, when most of them were about to enter the labour market or further study. The students were paired by university, by subject of study and by class background, so that the fortunes of middle-class and working-class students could be compared. Narrative data gathered over three years are located in the context of a hierarchical and stratified higher education system, in order to consider the potential of higher education as a vehicle of social mobility.
Debate about intergenerational relations has become more prominent since the financial crisis of 2007-09, focusing particularly on the difficulties faced by young adults trying to enter the labour and housing markets, whilst often bearing high levels of debt incurred as students. This article reviews the nature of the 'intergenerational contract' at both the micro level of the family, and at the macro level between individuals and the state. We then present qualitative, empirical data on the relationship between parents and: (1) their student children; and (2) their graduate children who have returned home. We focus primarily on the financial support provided by parents to the two groups. We explore why support is given, and the nature of similarities and differences in terms of what is given. We find that virtually all parents who were able to support their young adult children financially did so, but to different degrees and with different amounts of tension and anxiety. We suggest that the increased importance of the intergenerational contract at the micro level is likely to contribute to intra- rather than intergenerational inequalities.
Book synopsis: This edition of Social Policy Review marks the 40th anniversary of a publication from the UK Social Policy Association devoted to presenting an up-to-date and diverse review of the best in social policy scholarship. It includes a special Anniversary Preface celebrating the publication's evolution and distinctive contributions. Continuing its reputation as a cutting edge, international publication in social policy, Part One of this edition analyses current developments under the UK's Coalition Government across a range of key policy areas. Part Two includes an examination of social policy in 'developing' countries, including in Africa and the Arab nations. Part Three considers the fate of social welfare in countries among the worst hit by the 'economic crisis', including: Ireland, Greece, Spain, Portugal and Iceland. Social Policy Review is essential reading for social policy academics and students and for anyone who is interested in the implications of government policy.
The 2012 rise in student fees, from £3375 to £9000 per year, made England one of the costliest places to attend university in the world. Drawing on evidence from higher attaining young people attending low-participation schools, this paper renews established types of student debt aversion and tolerance, with sensitivity towards whether they reflect the (financial) 'price' of participation or the (cultural, social) 'cost' of participation. Findings point to a complex web of inter-related factors informing a decision-making process that is rational, but often lacking detailed knowledge of key variables, such as the range of bursaries and grants available and the terms of the loan repayment. The Ellsburg Paradox is invoked to explain the tendency of some young people to self-exclude, contrary to rational choice theory. For those without family support or precedent, participation is not greatly incentivised by assumed lifestyle and identity gains, and generous repayment concessions for low-earning graduates do not necessarily ease anxiety about debt. Data point to a heightened awareness of labour market alternatives and of continued disquiet, both academic and non-academic, about 'fitting in' at university. Naturally, higher fees demand a recalculation of return-on-investment estimates for all young people. However, the participation 'bet' of those from low-participation schools is framed in ways unacknowledged by (and sometimes discordant with) dominant public discourses.
This paper looks at how higher education (HE) in the UK has been transformed since the advent of neo-liberalism in the 1970s. It is based on my personal experiences over four decades, as well as the research literature, and argues that the changes in HE have been the direct result of policy changes shaped by neo-liberal thinking. After a brief outline of the recent history of HE, I look in detail at how the management systems have changed, both in individual institutions, and in the management of the HE system as a whole, through the application of the 'new public management' approach. Resistance to these changes has been problematic, given a wider economic culture increasingly centred on individual performance, not collective purposes. Although it might be possible to recreate an imagined ideal of collegiality and critical engagement, a truly alternative future for HE needs to begin from rethinking the education system as a whole, basing it around the promotion of substantive equality of wealth and power throughout society.
As of September 2012, the undergraduate tuition fee cap at English universities was raised from £3375 to £9000 per annum. This article explores the rationales underpinning prospective students' decision whether or not to apply to higher education following the fee increase, specifically, how this decision is influenced by perceptions of study-related debt and expected earnings. The article draws on data obtained from prospective undergraduates in year 13 and conceptualises their decision-making using the notion of ‘bounded rationality’. The data show that participant's primary response to the fee increase and associated study-related debt is that ‘there is no point worrying’. This is because in the short term, a higher education degree is considered vital to securing employment in a competitive labour market. In the long term, there is a perception that the income contingent nature of student loan repayments makes the Treasury, not the student, liable for any resultant financial losses.
Responsibility for meeting the costs of higher education in England has moved inexorably away from the government toward the family with the introduction of tuition fee and maintenance loans. Although an important public policy issue, there is limited research on how the policy impinges on the private sphere of the family. This paper focuses on financial support given by parents, including difficulties and constraints along with their perspectives of and responses to student loan debt, and students’ views of their financial independence. In-depth interviews with 28 parent-student dyads revealed different patterns of support. Some parents, contrary to policy assumptions, felt responsibility for their children’s student loan debt and acted to avoid, minimise or cushion the debt. There was evidence of financial stress for less affluent families. However, students with no parental support and high levels of government funding felt financially independent. The findings suggest that more affluent families were able to protect their children from student loan debt in different ways, whilst those with lower incomes were not able to do so, apparently creating a new form of inequality.
Many governments have adopted a policy of seeking to increase the number of students entering higher education and to finance this expansion by transferring costs from the state to the individual. In the United Kingdom, this policy has been pursued with relatively little concern for the impact that the increasing financial burden may have on students. Research at one case-study university suggested that many students were coping with their day-to-day living costs more comfortably than they had expected to in the first year. However, those in a difficult financial position at the start of their period of study were likely to face greater problems in the course of their first year. Two difficulties in particular – having missed payments at the start of the academic programme, and having to wait for the first student loan payment – were shown to have a damaging effect on academic performance.
As the UK sits on the verge of a major change in the financing of both universities and students, this study seeks to capture and analyse attitudes to money, borrowing and debt among contemporary young undergraduates. It reports findings from a qualitative study of 62 individuals in the second term of their first year at university, these being representatively sampled from volunteers across gender, social class, ethnicity and subject discipline. The semi-structured interview data was subjected to thematic analysis and this was used to derive a tentative typology of debt attitudes ranging from ‘debt-positive’ to ‘debt-angry’.
The findings of this study suggest that student attitudes are more complex than assumed in some previous research and journalistic commentary, especially with respect to social class. Counterintuitively, many students from lower social-class backgrounds show a positivity about debt as a means of enabling them to access higher-level careers; this is consistent with admissions data following the 2006 increase in tuition fees and student indebtedness. More generally, the mainstream of student attitudes appears to fall between the ‘debt-savvy’ and ‘debt-resigned’ types, with students being relatively well-informed about repayment terms and accepting large-scale indebtedness as ‘normal’, with most students being ‘in the same boat’. The implications of these findings, the limitations of the study and future opportunities for research are discussed.
This article argues that reforms of higher education finance for undergraduates in England introduced by the Blair government in 2006 provided a progressive strategy for achieving the central objectives of higher education of quality (better), access (wider) and size (larger). Reforms in 2012 are a not a strategy but a collection of ad hoc arrangements. They include the good (a higher fees cap, a higher interest rate on student loans, better information and improved support for part‐time study), the bad (abolishing most taxpayer support for teaching in the arts and humanities and the social sciences, and raising excessively the threshold at which loan repayments start) and the unspeakable (abolishing Education Maintenance Allowances and AimHigher). The reforms are fiscally costly and hence perpetuate the central problem of capped student numbers, and will not stand the test of time. The concluding section outlines the next White Paper.
Changing financial arrangements for undergraduates have led to a growth in widening participation research. However, hardly any studies explore gender differences in the impact of differential funding on students' sense of well‐being, their financial coping strategies and their educational attainment. Our research shows that there are few gender differences in students' actual financial situation, reflecting the similarity of their social class backgrounds, but women perceive themselves to be under greater pressure. Women worry more about their finances and express lower levels of well‐being, but this has no overall effect on their attainment, since the strategies they use to ameliorate worry align with sound educational practice. Men express a more complacent financial attitude, which does not usually affect their attainment. There is, however, evidence of a gender‐related ‘threshold effect’ among students who express low levels of well‐being. Extreme worriers perceive themselves to be, and genuinely are, worse off than other students, despite the apparent homology of their social class backgrounds. In this extreme group, the strategies women devise to cope with worry, such as curtailing their student life and building supportive friendship groups, appear to consolidate their attainment, but men's complacency sometimes pushes them down into the lowest class of degree.
The rise in access to complex consumer credit arrangements has taken place against a backdrop of a call for increased individual responsibility. Consumers are required to behave in a way which recognizes both their rights and responsibilities. But how much responsibility should they be expected to shoulder in critical areas of complex choice? Students represent a particular group of novice, sometimes vulnerable and often targeted consumers, who may display limited financial capability and responsibility. In addition to arguments for a more nuanced understanding of individual responsibility in different environments, the role of commercial agents and their marketing practices, which can have major implications for social policy, should also be considered. From the perspective of both students and relevant agencies and organizations, this article examines the nature, role and limitations of individual responsibility in managing credit and debt. While the social and economic system confers rights on lenders, their responsibility in marketing remains limited. It is argued that a framework for more responsible marketing of credit is a critical element of social policy acting as a bridge between individual responsibility and regulation. Qualitative research is used to illustrate the argument for marketing's social responsibility from the point of view of students entering credit arrangements to meet short-term needs but with long-term implications.
To define the role of nurses as patient advocates and to explore new strategies for the future.
Review articles, research studies, education and communications materials, and personal experience with oncology professionals, patients, and family members.
Cancer nurses' roles in patient advocacy have progressed and grown as the profession of oncology nursing has itself matured. As resources continue to diminish, nurses need to consider the power of their roles as change agents, coordinators, and directors as well as interventionists.
There are many needs for research in this area as well as new roles for nurses who care for patients. Nurses need to be aware of ongoing research in areas such as health communications and consider partnering with persons in these other disciplines to enhance productivity and to use their time most efficiently.
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Moving on up: Pathways of care leavers and care‐experienced students into and through higher education
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