A new report by the Higher Education Policy Institute explores
how universities are responding to the severe effects of the
cost-of-living crisis on students.
The new research by Josh Freeman, Policy Manager at HEPI, How
to Beat a Cost-of-Learning Crisis: Universities’ Support for
Students (HEPI Report 163, attached), is based on a
statistical analysis of 140 university responses and interviews
with nearly 60 university professionals.
It finds that higher education institutions have adopted a range
of strategies to support students, through hardship funds, food
and drink discounts and support with health such as sanitary
products, coordinated by cost-of-living ‘working groups’, new
committees not bound by the usual university processes.
The report probes the rapid responses of two universities with
case studies. The University of Manchester sent £170
cost-of-living payments to more than 90% of students, setting up
enquiry forms which handled more than 16,000 queries. At
Buckinghamshire New University, a programme to provide free
activities saves students up to £200 a month, and those which
received its hardship fund had a 7% higher progression rate than
those that did not.
Yet the report also finds that universities are being forced to
take steps which would have been unthinkable just years ago. More
than a quarter of universities (27%) have a food bank, including
one third (33%) of Russell Group universities and nearly
two-thirds (63%) of universities in Wales. One-in-ten (11%) also
distributes food vouchers.
Josh Freeman, author of the report, said:
‘This report shows that universities are stepping up as students
experience their second major crisis in four years. Rather than
leaving innovation to the laboratory, student advisors,
university leaders and students’ union officers have pushed
boundaries to get students more help. But there is more to be
done. Universities should streamline bureaucratic hardship funds
and set up processes to move more quickly. And it is past time
for the Westminster Government to address the real-terms decline
in maintenance support, which leaves too many students at risk of
deprivation – in what are supposed to be the best years of their
lives.’
Dr Simon Merrywest, Director for the Student Experience
at the University of Manchester and author of the Foreword to the
report, said:
‘This report clearly highlights the strength and breadth of the
response to the sector to the recent cost-of-living crisis, with
co-created solutions between students and university leaders at
its heart. The financial squeeze of the last two years has though
brought into even sharper relief pressures on students that have
been growing for many years. This report raises important
questions about whether universities should themselves be the
ones to plug the growing gaps in student finance.’
Professor Nick Braisby, Vice-Chancellor at
Buckinghamshire New University and author of the Afterword to the
report, said:
‘This timely report highlights one of higher education’s greatest
modern-day challenges – inequality of access, participation and
achievement. This challenge is exacerbated by a combination of
the cost-of-living crisis and government policy (or lack of
policy intervention). Higher education providers are doing what
they can to support their students, and this report contains much
insight as to how they could provide more and more effective
support. BNU is proud to be recognised in the report for our
comprehensive award-winning support package, enabled by agile
leadership, flexible processes and committed staff.
‘But Universities should not and cannot bear responsibility alone
for addressing the cost-of-living crisis facing our students. We
concur with the report’s call for government to do much more – if
they do not, higher education study will simply become
unaffordable for many of our students. Ignoring their needs will
cause immense damage to our higher education sector, to our
society and to our students’ life chances. We urge the government
to heed this call for action.’
Key points:
- Three-quarters of universities (76%) help their students with
food and drink, more than two-fifths (43%) provide free period
products and more than a third (35%) helped to fund students’
access both to travel and digital technology.
- Over a quarter of universities (27%) operate a food bank,
including one-third (33%) of Russell Group universities.
- Wales, the South West, the North East and the South East were
the regions where universities were most likely to operate a food
bank, with Northern Ireland and London the least likely.
- University interventions included £170 payments available to
all students at the University of Manchester, free
extra-curricular activities at Buckinghamshire New University,
three automatic seven-day extensions on submitting classwork at
Keele University and a heavily streamlined hardship fund at
Manchester Metropolitan University.
Recommendations:
- Universities should establish a cost-of-living working group,
streamline their hardship fund, launch an emergency fund, and
include students throughout their cost-of-living response.
- Students’ unions should mount an ambitious and practical
cost-of-living campaign with their university, founded on strong
evidence and excellent relationships with university staff.
- Government should establish a cost-of-living taskforce which
consults regularly with students and sector leaders, and urgently
review the level of maintenance support.
