While the tuition fee system has had a large amount of political and media attention in the last two decades, far less attention has been paid to the student maintenance system -- the amount of funding students have access to for day to day living expenses. But for many students, this funding is of more immediate importance, and can have a major…

England's higher education funding system has been reformed many times, leading to a system based on high fees and loans. Undergraduate tuition fees for full-time students were introduced in 1998 and rose to £3,000 a year in 2006, increasing further to £9,000 in 2021. Through a series of in-depth interviews, this report from Professor Claire…

Stranded credit is credit that students have earned at a postsecondary institution, but cannot use or transfer because they have unpaid debts at the institution. Institutions will usually not issue official transcripts to students with debt, which results in the student being unable to formally document the credits they have acquired. This can…

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…

The English tuition fee system is designed to be progressive and to ensure that higher education is well funded. As the Government considers how it could be improved, many former detractors are recognising we could do far worse and fear change. This paper proposes a solution comprising three interdependent policy changes without a significant…

HEPI's response to the Review of Post-18 Education and Funding covers the following 10 areas: (1) Part-time learners; (2) Differential fees; (3) Maintenance grants; (4) Mixed funding model; (5) Uses of tuition fees; (6) Misunderstanding among applicants; (7) Outreach versus spending on bursaries; (8) Accounting treatment of student loans; (9)…

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…

In England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, the funding systems for full-time, first-time undergraduate students differ. Despite these differences, universities in each of the three parts of the United Kingdom (UK) with tuition fees--England, Wales and Northern Ireland--all share a common tendency to set them at the same (maximum) rate for…

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…

Despite increasing financial pressures on higher education systems throughout the world, many governments remain resolutely opposed to the introduction of tuition fees, and some countries and states where tuition fees have been long established are now reconsidering free higher education. This paper examines the consequences of charging tuition…

This study compares tuition funding arrangements, debt at graduation, and earnings outcomes for full-time domestic undergraduates in eight Anglophone countries: the United Kingdom (England, Wales, Northern Ireland, and Scotland), United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. According to multiple estimates, the average English student faces…

This paper examines current part-time mature learners' views on the potential impact upon future students as full fees are introduced from 2012. It investigates the problems which part-time mature learners may face with the advent of student loans and subsequent debt, given that they are usually combining complex lives with their studies, with…

This qualitative research explores women's experiences of accessing higher education (HE) in England, through the mother-daughter relationship. Women's pathways to university and their funding histories are presented from both past and recent generations, to contextualise an understanding of funding HE in light of the 2012 tuition fee increase.…

The Higher Education Contribution Scheme (HECS) has been advanced as having many desirable properties. These have been discussed largely from the theoretical perspective, and with the individual rather than the family as the reference point. This paper explores whether HECS is working the way it was intended. Is it having undesirable or…

Two possible types of loans for undergraduate study are outlined (loans to cover fees only and loans for living costs), and suggested repayment schemes and need analyses are given. Some notes are given on the administration of such a program. (MSE)