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Summary
The impact of tuition and top-up fees in Cornwall - 3 years more hard labour
Low wages in Cornwall mean that graduates returning to work in the county will take approximately 3 more years hard labour to pay off their student debt compared to typical graduates in the rest of the country.
A female Cornish graduate returning to work in the county will take approximately 20 years on Cornish wages to pay off the debt incurred as a student -17 years for a man (compared to 17 years and 14 years respectively for the national average).
Top-up fees of £3,000 will increase student debts on graduation from a current average of £12,000 to £24,000.
A smaller proportion of Cornish 18 year olds are enrolling in Higher Education now than in 1997 when tuition fees were introduced -before that time numbers had been rising.
Half (46%) of 18 year olds in Cornwall who responded to a survey said tuition fees already made them less likely to go to University, let alone top-up fees.
58% of 18 year olds surveyed believed they would have to leave Cornwall within 5 years to seek better employment because of low wages and poor job prospects, even without the threat of top-up fees.
Only Liberal Democrats have proposals to abolish all student top-up and tuition fees, without cutting higher education. Recent Conservative proposals are funded by cutting 10,000 student places this year alone.
Liberal Democrats have launched a national campaign opposing top-up and tuition fees -and are calling on the Combined University in Cornwall (CUC) to rule out any use of top-up fees if Labour introduces them, to guarantee an affordable Higher Education opportunity for Cornish students in Cornwall.
Background - Top Up Fees and Tuition Fees
Tuition Fees were introduced in 1997 at a rate of £1000 per student per year and now stand at £1,100 per year. Lower income families were exempt from paying these fees, and maintenance grants were replaced by student loans. These plans placed a burden of debt on most university students, and have acted as a deterrent to those from less well off backgrounds. Those that do go to university currently leave with average debts of £12,000. Although tuition fees were justified as a means of increasing funding for Higher Education, these extra funds never materialised. The Department simply reduced the level of direct funding accordingly.
The Government's White Paper on Higher Education was published in January 2003, and looks set to make the financial burden of studying at university even more crippling. It outlines plans to charge differential fees of up to £3000 per year, payable by all students starting from 2006. For the first time even the poorest students will be expected to pay “top up fees.” Grants, which the Government have re-introduceed, work out a measly £20 a week (£1,000 a year). This is at a lower level than when they were abolished in 1997, and is less even than Education Maintenance Allowances for A level students, which are equivalent to £30 per week. The Government has again insisted that such a policy is the only means to secure increased funding for Higher Education. They made that promise in 1997 and broke it - can they really be trusted not to do the same again?
The Government's approach to Higher Education has so far done nothing to encourage increases in the number of students from under represented groups, and their latest plans will see student debts spiral to up to £24,000. For many this will make the cost of a degree prohibitively expensive. In deprived areas such as Cornwall there are justifiable fears that these proposals could result in a fall in student numbers from Cornwall for the first time.
With 173 MPs, and specifically 140 Labour MPs signing the Early Day Motion 2 against top up fees, the Labour Government can expect a revolt when the legislation is first put before parliament at the end of next month
TOP UP FEES IN UNIVERSITIES |
13.11.02 |
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Farrelly/Paul |
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That this House notes with concern that a number of elite universities are making contingency plans for top up fees, which would create a two tier university system; and urges the Government to adhere to its policy of ruling out such extra charges in this and successive future parliaments. |
The introduction of top up fees has even proved controversial within the Cabinet. Top up fees are considered to be one of Tony Blair's pet projects -but Education Secretary Charles Clarke has admitted on record that “I've always been slightly inclined towards the graduate tax myself.” Gordon Brown declared top ups fees a “ridiculous idea” at a lunch with women journalists in January.
The position of the official Conservative opposition is has been contradictory. Iain Duncan Smith called the principle of Top Up fees “detrimental,” while his front bench Education Spokesman Damian Green had no qualms in commenting that “I don't mind the principle of differential fees.” Now they say they will abolish tuition fees by cutting student numbers by 10,000 this year, and more in future years. So Conservative plans mean no fees only because for many young people they will offer no place at all at university.
Only the Liberal Democrats have consistently opposed top up fees and tuition fees, and have provided a credible funding alternative. Higher Education should be guaranteed the much needed investment it deserves through a little more progressive taxation on those that can afford it - those earning over £100,000 a year, who currently pay a lower percentage of their income in tax than people in other lower income ranges. This will avoid the need to impose unfair top up and tuition taxes on students at a time when they can least afford it.
The continuation of tuition fees, and the introduction of top up fees will be a major obstacle for the Government in terms of meeting their target of a 50% participation rate in Higher Education by 2010 - especially if some of this expansion is to come from increasing representation of by those social groups where participation is still very low. Areas where expansion in Higher Education would bring most benefit - such as Cornwall where average wages are low and unemployment relatively high - will be hit hardest by the Government's plans. In areas such as these higher academic qualifications would help encourage greater economic development. Instead, the young people who could potentially make such a difference to Cornwall's economic and social fate will be deterred from applying to university because of concerns that they will not be able to afford to do so.
Cornwall's Performance in Education
Government funding of education in Cornwall has historically been well below the national average even before changes to local government funding formulae came into effect in April 2003 and made it worse still. Yet if anything, rural areas such as Cornwall face extra costs in the delivery of education. For example, they face the same wage and curriculum constraints as any school in England, but the geographical reality of the county means that transport costs and small schools add considerably to the County's education bill.
Despite these constraints, Liberal Democrat County Councillors have worked to increase the share of spending going to schools. As a result Cornwall has been able to reduce pupil - teacher ratios in Primary schools to virtually the national average, and to improve standards in Primary schools.
However, this focus on Primary School funding has inevitably had an effect on Secondary school teaching, where class sizes remain above regional and national averages.
But even with these funding difficulties, the performance of students in Cornwall remains above average at GCSE level, and close to national averages at A level. This is despite the fact that deprived areas tend be reflected in lower levels of academic performance.
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% of 15 year olds achieving 5 or more GCSE/GNVQs at grades A*-C |
||
|
2000 |
1999 |
1998 |
Cornwall Local Education Authority |
52.6 |
51.6 |
51.1 |
South West |
51.4 |
50.2 |
48.6 |
England |
49.2 |
47.9 |
46.3 |
School and College Performance Tables Data by the end of 2001-2002 |
Average Points score of 16- 18 year old students entered for GCE / VCE A/AS |
Average point score per GCE / VCE A/AS |
Cornwall Local Education Authority
|
239.9 |
71.1 |
South West |
245.2 |
74.9 |
England |
240.5 |
72.9 |
Higher Education
Despite Cornish Pupils' achievements at GCSE and A level, the proportion of students entering university at 18 has remained virtually static throughout the expansion of Higher Education in the 1990s. This stands in stark contrast to the expansion in Higher Education participation that has taken place in LEAS in areas where there are higher income opportunities - London and the South East for example. The biggest increase in the country has been in Brent.
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1994 |
1995 |
1996 |
1997 |
1998 |
1999 |
2000 |
2001 |
Cornwall |
18.95 |
19.84 |
21.33 |
21.79 |
20.33 |
21.47 |
22.00 |
21.77 |
Devon |
18.0 |
19.1 |
19.8 |
19.6 |
19.6 |
20.9 |
20.6 |
20.5 |
Somerset |
18.2 |
18.8 |
21.0 |
21.6 |
21.1 |
19.9 |
20.5 |
21.4 |
Brent |
20.0 |
22.0 |
23.2 |
26.5 |
25.6 |
28.4 |
29.2 |
30.7 |
ENGLAND |
17.94% |
19.53% |
19.89% |
20.47% |
20.02% |
20.03% |
20.57% |
21.48% |
Before 1997, the number of 18 year olds entering higher education was rising, and was above the national average. Now enrolments in Cornwall are at a lower level than they were in 1997. The impact of tuition fees in 1997 resulted in a drop in entrants, and there is a real possibility that the introduction of top up fees will have an even more marked effect. If this is the case, then the hard work that teachers and students do to improve academic standards in the county will be lost.
Tuition Fees and Top Up Fees as a deterrent to university entrance:
Evidence strongly points to the fact that the expansion of Higher Education has failed to increase the proportion of students from less well off backgrounds.
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Academic year beginning: |
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Social class |
1990 |
1991 |
1992 |
1993 |
1994 |
1995 |
1996 |
1997 |
1998 |
1999 |
2000 |
I Professional |
n/a |
55 |
71 |
73 |
78 |
80 |
82 |
79 |
72 |
73 |
76 |
II Intermediate |
n/a |
36 |
39 |
42 |
45 |
46 |
47 |
48 |
45 |
45 |
48 |
IIIN Skilled non manual |
n/a |
22 |
27 |
29 |
31 |
31 |
32 |
31 |
29 |
30 |
33 |
IIIM Skilled manual |
n/a |
11 |
15 |
17 |
18 |
18 |
18 |
19 |
18 |
18 |
19 |
IV Partly skilled |
n/a |
10 |
14 |
16 |
17 |
17 |
17 |
18 |
17 |
17 |
19 |
V Unskilled |
n/a |
6 |
9 |
11 |
11 |
12 |
13 |
14 |
13 |
13 |
14 |
I-IIIN |
37 |
35 |
40 |
43 |
46 |
47 |
48 |
48 |
45 |
45 |
48 |
IIIM-V |
10 |
11 |
14 |
16 |
17 |
17 |
18 |
18 |
17 |
17 |
18 |
All classes |
19 |
23 |
28 |
30 |
32 |
32 |
33 |
33 |
31 |
32 |
33 |
According to the table, participation in higher education among professionals increased by 21 percentage points in the ten years between 1991 and 2001. By contrast, the increase in HE participation from manual and unskilled backgrounds increased by only 7 percentage points. Recent research by Steve Machin, the director of the Centre for the Economics of Education at the DfES reinforces this conclusion. Commenting, Machin said: “It is clear that educational inequality…has tended to rise in recent years…. Even the sharp expansion of university participation did not benefit poorer children. If anything, it strengthened the position of the middle classes.” The existing system of higher education is clearly widening, rather than narrowing social divides. Given the social mix in Cornwall and the lack of professional and managerial jobs in the county, clearly Cornish students will be locked into the lower section of this two tiered education system.
Part of this inequality in university participation arises from the fact that those from a deprived background have greater debt aversion. Claire Callendar, and Martin Kemp's DfES commissioned work on changing student finances found that “debt aversion is concentrated among those most under-represented in the student population - those from the lowest social classes. Ultimately these groups may be deterred from entry in HE because of debt, yet they are the very focus of widening participation policies.” A survey which formed part of their study showed that 15% of respondents agreed with the statement “I nearly did not come to university because I was concerned about the debts I would build up.”
A survey by Universities UK adds further weight to this evidence. 84% of respondents felt that debt deters entry into Higher Education, with nearly the same number agreeing that being in debt is one of the worst aspects of student life.
Evidence relating to Cornwall corroborates these concerns. In response to a survey of 18 year olds by Matthew Taylor MP, 46% of respondents agreed that tuition fees made them less likely to go to university. Rather than going to university, many young people see leaving the county as the key to escaping the poverty that exists in many parts of Cornwall. 58% percent of respondents believed they would leave Cornwall within 5 years to seek better employment. The population skew already means that only 16% of Cornwall's inhabitants are aged under 30, far below the national average. High house prices and low wages means that those who do graduate are unlikely to return, further depleting the number and average academic qualification of the young people who do stay. The introduction of top up fees is more than likely to make matters worse - locking Cornish young people out of university and out of better paid jobs, and locking them in the low wage economy of Cornwall.
The so-called “graduate premium” - estimated by the DfES to stand at £400,000 will in reality do little to improve the earnings potential of a Cornish graduate. To start with the figures are flawed. They are a snapshot taken in 2001 - an unweighted sample from the Labour force survey. Most of the graduates in the survey got their degrees when only 15% or so of the population went to university - and so currently are now in the best paid jobs. Their calculation of graduate earnings is rooted in the past, reflecting a golden age when having a degree conferred significant financial benefits. It is not a prediction of the future, when half of all 18-30 year olds will be graduates, competing in a tight labour market for limited jobs.
For graduates living in Cornwall, a £400,000 “graduate premium” seems a dim an distant prospect. Even skilled wages are at levels 20% below national averages. Students hoping to return to their home county face will have to do so facing lower incomes, which will mean it will take considerably longer to repay their student debts. House of Commons Library research for the Liberal Democrats shows that it will on average take a male graduate 14 years, and a female 17 years to fully pay off their student loans. For graduates hoping to return to Cornwall it could add around 3 years to the time it will take them to clear their debts. Instead, Cornish graduates will be attracted to jobs outside the county where wages are higher and house prices lower, so that they are able to repay loans quicker - taking away valuable skills that could otherwise be used to lift the county's economy.
Conclusion and recommendations:
Tuition fees and top up fees stand as major obstacles to improving participation rates in Higher Education in Cornwall. The introduction of tuition fees has meant that a national expansion in Higher Education has hardly been noticed in Cornwall. There is genuine cause for concern that further increases in cost through the introduction of “top up fees” could result in a decline in applications. Like many other deprived areas, the county is in danger of getting left behind in the creation of a two tiered university system.
Although a university in Cornwall may help mitigate some problems such as the extra costs associated with travelling and accommodation, for many students the prospect of debts in excess of £20,000 may prove a cost that they consider themselves unable to afford.
Despite the high academic standards that the county achieves at school level in the face of underfunding, Cornwall as a county will not achieve the full economic benefit that a well qualified-population could bring. Students will either choose not to go to university, or will seek graduate employment outside the county where wages are higher, and housing costs lower, so that they can pay off their student loans more rapidly. In terms of Higher Education provision, the Labour Government is still failing Cornwall.
“The Future of Higher Education” - January 2003
ibid, p.85
Breakfast with Frost, 24th November 2002
Damian Green, GMTV Sunday Programme, 19 Jan. 03 ;
Iain Duncan Smith, Jonathan Dimbleby Programme 3rd November 2002
PQ 91751, 3 February 2003
PQ number 88328, 7th January 2003.
CentrePiece, Winter 2003, “Unto them that hath…” by Steve Machin
Changing Student Finances: Income, expenditure and Take Up of Student Loans among full and Part Time Higher Education Students in 1998-99, p.262
ibid, p.v
Universities UK, 6th December 2002
18 Year Old Survey 2002, Matthew Taylor MP
Stephen Hoare, “Not Good at Sums.” Guardian, Tuesday November 26th 2002
http://www.cornwall.gov.uk/Facts/fact17.htm
House of Commons Research, April 2003
CORNISH STUDENTS:
3 YEARS
MORE HARD LABOUR?
THE IMPACT OF
TOP UP AND TUITION FEES IN CORNWALL
Written and produced for the Liberal Democrats Team for Cornwall
by Julia Goldsworthy, May 2003.
This document may be freely quoted, provided it is attributed to the Liberal Democrats