The reforms of higher education (HE) student funding and increase in tuition fees to be introduced in 2012-13 have raised concerns that some potential HE students may be deterred from undertaking HE studies. Research undertaken in 2002-03 suggested that prospective students from lower social classes were the most likely to be deterred by fear of debt. The 2012-13 reforms raise the possibility that even larger groups of potential students may now be reluctant to enter HE. Our research explores whether current potential students’ attitudes to debt and HE have changed over time. It investigate how these attitudes affect decisions to enter HE or take up alternative education and employment options such as studying part-time, taking intermediate-level qualifications, and combining such studies with apprenticeship training. All these options are of interest to policy-makers because they may encourage more employers to provide financial support and/or apprentice training to well-qualified young people.
The following research questions are being addressed:
The study consists of:
It is hoped that the survey findings will be of interest to policy-makers, and will provide a basis for seeking co-funding for a later survey of employers’ willingness to support higher apprenticeships and employees studying part-time for HE qualifications.
Papers in peer reviewed journals
Callender, C and Mason, G. (2017) 'Does student loan debt deter higher education participation? New evidence from England'. Annals of American Political and Social Science. Vol 671 DOI
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 article investigates whether this is still the case today in England despite the changing higher education landscape since 2002. The article describes findings from a 2015 survey of prospective undergraduates and compares them with those from the 2002 study.
We find that:
Debt averse attitudes seem more likely to deter lower-class students from applying to university in 2015 than in 2002, unlike young people from other social classes.
Conferences/Seminars Papers
1. Callender and Mason - ‘Student debt: Does it deter HE participation?’ Department of Education, London, 14 February, 2017
2. Callender - ‘Does student loan debt deter HE participation? ’University of Pennsylvania – conference on Student Debt – keynote, 26 Aug 2016
3. Callender - ‘Student debt – initial findings’, Centre for Higher Education Studies UCL, Institute of Education, London - seminar paper,7 June 2016
4. Callender and Mason - ‘Student debt: early findings’ - LLAKES, UCL, Institute of Education, London - seminar paper, 22 March, 2016
5. Callender - Student debt, higher education participation, and intermediate skills development– Initial findings, Society for Research into Higher
Education, Annual Conference, Newport, 9 Dec, 2015