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Included in this mailing:
1. STUDENT FINANCE DEBATE - new briefing at www.catalystforum.org.uk
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1.
HIGHER EDUCATION AND SOCIAL JUSTICE
A briefing on the government's proposals for reforming student finance
Today Catalyst publishes a special briefing on the student finance debate
which warns that the current government proposals risk undermining equal
access to higher education.
The government has defended its proposals on the grounds that university
entry is equal across social classes given academic attainment, and that the
roots of unequal working class participation in higher education lie
elsewhere, in the school system or early years.
But the Catalyst paper argues that ministers may be downplaying the extent
to which financial barriers prevent prospective students from low income
backgrounds from realising their educational potential. It also warns
against policymakers "wishing away" the real problem of working class debt
aversion.
The available evidence demonstrates that:
* already lower income groups compromise their education by restricting
themselves to shorter courses closer to their parental home and taking on
damaging levels of paid work; and some may be deterred from pursuing a
university career altogether
* under the new proposals students from lower income families will face
a clear "maintenance gap" of almost £2,000 a year between their income and
their cost of living, even if the new Higher Education Grant and full
student loans are taken into account
* poorer students are also likely to be deterred from applying for
courses for which higher fees are being charged, for which they would be
forced to take on further debt of up to £1,875 more a year
The briefing also presents information from the US indicating that variable
fees exacerbate polarisation within the higher education system, and that
university bursaries are a poor substitute for a transparent, uniform and
equitable structure of student support.
The document concludes:
"There is clearly a substantial gap between the amount of support on
offer to poorer students and the level that would really give them an equal
chance of realising their academic potential, especially once their
understandable wariness of taking on debts is taken seriously.
"The restoration of a small grant and enhancement of bursaries will
certainly help their position, but clearly fall some way short of what their
situation demands. And the introduction of variable tuition fees may raise
new money for the sector at the cost of pricing disadvantaged students out
of the more prestigious institutions.
"The one principle that is shared by all participants in the debate
and, we believe, the vast majority of the British public, is that access to
higher education should be fair. On this count the current proposals are
clearly wanting."
The briefing can be downloaded in full today from the Catalyst website at
http://www.catalystforum.org.uk/pubs/paper20.html. For additional hardcopies
please contact the Catalyst office on 020 7733 2111.
"...the social justice case was dealt a blow yesterday when Catalyst, the
leftwing thinktank, argued the government proposals would undermine working
class access to universities..." - read today's Guardian report at
http://www.guardian.co.uk/guardianpolitics/story/0,3605,1103591,00.html.
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'Higher Education and Social Justice'
Briefing on the government's proposals for reforming student finance
A Catalyst briefing paper
http://www.catalystforum.org.uk/pubs/paper20.html
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C a t a l y s t
150 The Broadway
London SW19 1RX
Telephone +44 (0)20 7733 2111
e-mail: [log in to unmask]
www.catalystforum.org.uk
'The One to Watch' - Prospect Think Tank of the Year Awards 2003
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