Funding shortfall on each UK undergraduate ‘will double to £4K’

Frozen funding combined with rising costs and student demand will see the average deficit incurred by English universities for teaching a UK undergraduate more than double to about £4,000 in 2024-25, meaning a new funding formula is needed, according to the Russell Group.

The group of research-intensive universities sets out the analysis in its response to the Westminster government’s consultation on proposed policy changes, including minimum entry requirements and student number controls, plus the planned lifelong loan entitlement.

In addition to responding on those issues, the Russell Group has opted to highlight the overarching system-wide pressures brought by the government’s recent decision to continue to freeze the tuition fee cap at £9,250 a year until 2024-25, amounting to a freeze of at least seven years in total.

The Russell Group’s analysis estimates that without intervention all subjects will continue to face widening deficits and the average deficit universities would incur for teaching each home undergraduate student would increase from £1,750 in 2021-22 to approximately £4,000 in 2024-25. 

It warns that a continued decline in per-student funding will “start to impact on investment in teaching and ultimately affect quality and choice for students in the long term, potentially impacting on class sizes, staff-student ratios, investment in practical teaching and infrastructure, module choice and intake onto the courses with the largest deficits”.

And that would mean knock-on effects for universities’ support to regional economies, it argues.

Russell Group chief executive Tim Bradshaw said: “We understand the challenges government faces in balancing the public finances so welcome recent investment in high-cost subjects and capital funding. However, with tuition fees frozen for another two years, and costs and student demand rising, the pressure on funding for teaching will grow. 

“Universities will continue to work hard and find ways of reducing that pressure so they can provide the best possible student experience, but if unaddressed over the long term this will inevitably affect the range and quality of courses that can be offered to students at a time when we need a breadth of high-level skills to drive a sustainable recovery. 

“There is an opportunity over the next two years for the sector and government to come together and look at a new funding formula that will protect that pipeline of skills and high-quality education for the benefit of students and the wider UK economy and society.”

john.morgan@timeshighereducation.com