Average master’s fee higher than postgraduate loan for first time

Nearly one in three master’s courses at English universities are more expensive than the total value of the postgraduate loan available, according to new data.

Taught postgraduate students starting courses this autumn are eligible for a loan of up to £12,471, which is up 2.5 per cent from the previous year and 21.3 per cent higher than in 2017-18, when it was worth £10,280.

However, the average domestic fee for a full-time master’s is now £12,703, surpassing the value of the loan for the first time, according to the Courses 360 database produced by The Knowledge Partnership, part of Times Higher Education.

The analysis of about 4,800 campus-based courses across 121 mainly public English institutions shows an annual jump in fees of 6.2 per cent, the largest on record. The increases in costs have outstripped that of the loan every year and are now up 43 per cent on seven years previously.

It means that almost a third (30.4 per cent) of courses in England have fees greater than the loan in 2023-24 – down from 33.4 per cent last year, but well above 19.6 per cent seen in 2017-18.

Paul Wakeling, a professor in the department of education at the University of York, said that the lack of regulatory oversight of master’s fees was “becoming increasingly problematic” and had allowed a “complete free-for-all”.

While the loans had helped to all but erase gaps in participation by socio-economic background at master’s level, Professor Wakeling said that this was likely to be “short-lived”.

“I expect that the gains that we’ve seen in widening participation at master’s level are being fairly quickly eroded by fee inflation,” he warned.

Although ultimately “self-defeating”, Professor Wakeling said it was “completely understandable” that postgraduate prices were going up in light of the sector’s rising costs, plus the squeeze on international recruitment and the freeze in undergraduate fees.

TKP’s database also shows “huge variation” in fees by type of institution and region, which has implications for who is able to study these courses.

More than half (53.7 per cent) of courses at research-intensive institutions in the Russell Group are more expensive than the maximum loan, compared with just 3 per cent of programmes at smaller providers that are part of GuildHE.

And 48.6 per cent of courses in London are above the value of the loan, far beyond the 13.9 per cent of courses in the West Midlands.

Amy Ross, a senior consultant at TKP, said it was disappointing to see master’s level study becoming more unaffordable for some.

“Universities with a commitment to widening access will need to ensure they are providing adequate levels of financial support for students who need it, as well as the new government ensuring the loan value reflects the current economic situation,” she said.

patrick.jack@timeshighereducation.com