When undergraduate tuition fees were announced in 2010, many
people worried that fees would put off those from poorer backgrounds from going
to university. For those already at
university and thinking about graduate study, fees have been a reality for
years. What many people haven’t noticed, however, is the very rapid rise in the
cost of postgrad courses: fees have
increased by an average of 31.8 per cent between 2003-04 and 2008-09, from
£3,232 to just over £4,261, well above inflation.
Students from poorer backgrounds are under-represented in postgraduate study, something many policymakers worry about. So have rising fees
put off poorer students from further study? Yes, according to new research soon to be published by SERC.
The findings, which I presented at the Royal Economic Society Annual Conference
last month, draw on a rich new dataset of postgraduate tuition fees by
institution, subject and time. Using micro-data from the Higher Education
Statistics Agency (HESA), I find that a rise in postgraduate fees of 10
per cent leads to a reduction in the probability of students progressing
directly on to a postgraduate degree of between 1.7 per cent and 4.5 per cent.
Moves to postgrad study are heavily weighted towards students from
higher socio-economic backgrounds. Students from managerial or professional
backgrounds, for example, account for 60 per cent of those progressing, while
students from the lowest socio-economic groups - routine occupations, never
worked and long-term unemployed – account for no more than 4 per cent.
Even after controlling for a wide range of other characteristics, students from
poorer backgrounds remain significantly less likely to progress than their
wealthier peers. Notably, attendance at a private school prior to university
significantly increases the likelihood of progression by between 0.9 per cent
and 2.4 per cent.
It's interesting that students from non-white backgrounds were also
significantly more likely to remain in higher education: Black and Asian
students are 5.5-6.6 per cent and 5.2-6.8 per cent more likely respectively to
progress to a further degree than equivalent white students.
Not surprisingly, I find that first degree
results make a big difference, with those earning firsts or 2:1s over 10% more
likely to do further study than those with 2:2s or below. Men are also about 3
per cent more likely than women to stay on.
The research makes the case for several important policy changes.
Firstly, a systematic effort is needed to monitor all postgraduate tuition fees
in the UK. The absence of a database of fees by subject, institution and
qualification level has presented a significant barrier for research and is an
essential pre-requisite for efforts to effectively monitor access above
undergraduate level.
Secondly, there is a need to re-examine how public support
for postgraduate study is allocated. The results suggest that students from
poorer backgrounds are under-represented in postgraduate study and that the
jump from undergraduate to postgraduate study presents an additional barrier. Policy
makers should reconsider the funding arrangements for postgraduate study – and
in particular, the extent of public support for students from low income
backgrounds who aspire to study beyond undergraduate level.
