UK universities warn of cuts for impoverished students if dire funding issues continue | Students
If tough funding struggles at universities continue, they may need to cut hardship support for poor students and reduce outreach activities for disadvantaged groups, vice-chancellors have said.
An anonymous survey of leaders by Universities UK (UUK) has revealed the extent of the budget quagmire facing higher education; More than two-thirds are prepared to cut staff jobs through compulsory redundancies if difficulties continue over the next three years, while nearly 90% said they were considering a hiring freeze or voluntary redundancy.
Vivienne Stern, UUK’s chief executive, said: “If we want to protect world-class universities that serve students, employers and the economy, we need a serious debate about how degrees are funded and whether the government’s share matches the value universities provide to society.”
But experts have said proposed further cuts to support for students could leave higher education out of reach for those who need it most, at a time when record numbers are living at home and working part-time to cope with rising prices.
Almost a third of vice-chancellors said they would cut hardship funding for current students if necessary, while more than half said they were prepared to cut outreach and outreach activities aimed at encouraging students to go to university over the next three years.
Lee Elliot-Major, professor of social mobility at the University of Exeter, said: “At a time when growing numbers of students are facing unprecedented financial pressures and growing uncertainty about the value of a degree, retreating from a lack of access and funding risks pushing up the ladder for an entire generation.
“This represents a huge waste of human potential at precisely the time when the country cannot afford it. We are in danger of returning to an era when the university is once again the preserve of those advantaged enough to afford it.”
Katy Hampshire, program director at the Sutton Trust, which campaigns to improve opportunities through education, said cutting hardship funding could dramatically impact the lives of the poorest students.
“They are more likely to have skipped meals to save on food costs, missing classes or deadlines to take on paid work,” Hampshire said. “They are also graduating with the highest levels of student debt compared to their more affluent peers. This is fundamentally unfair. Cutting hardship support hits those with the least financial support the hardest and risks undermining their ability to succeed when they reach university.”
Cutting engagement and outreach “risks widening the access gap between the wealthiest and least affluent young people that universities have spent years trying to close,” Hampshire added.
Vice-chancellors surveyed said there could be cuts across the board, including in research, construction and maintenance, if financial conditions worsen, and many are considering mergers or partnerships with other universities.
Earlier this month, King’s College London announced it would acquire Bedfordshire-based technology and management graduate institution Cranfield University, in a sign that consolidation could become more common.
Jo Grady, general secretary of the University and College Union, said: “Mergers and acquisitions are a symptom of this crisis, not the solution. Governments and vice-chancellors now urgently need to listen to university staff, invest in jobs, support capacity and re-establish the UK as a global higher education leader.”
Alex Stanley, vice-president of higher education at the National Union of Students, said it was vital that universities made protecting their students a top priority.
“For students, this comes with maintenance loans that have not kept pace with inflation as their costs and debt continue to grow at astronomical rates,” Stanley said.
