I
was very proud of the expansion of higher education a decade ago, which
reversed the 36% cut in funding per student of the previous decade. The
investment saw a significant increase in the number of students who came from
families which had little or no experience of university. Many very able young
people had thought that ‘university wasn’t for them”.
For
instance, between 1998 and 2008, there was a 46% increase – from 1415 to 2070 -
in the number of young people from Sheffield going to university. In my own
constituency, there was a 57% increase and, in the neighbouring Brightside
(David Blunkett’s) constituency, it was a massive 159%.[1]
Investment
was also made specifically to boost access for students with disabilities, who
were significantly under-represented in the university population, not because
of lack of ability, but because of problems of physical access or the inability
to fund essential aids for learning.
Many
people have forgotten that, in 2009, Nick Clegg supported a big cut in higher
education funding which would have meant that 200 fewer young people each year
from Sheffield would go to university. So much for warm words about raising
educational aspiration; it was clear that this funding reverse would mainly hit
those families and communities which historically had the lowest access to
advanced learning. This policy reverse was completely over-shadowed by Nick
Clegg’s subsequent ditching of his tuition fees’ promise.
Now,
as well as trebling tuition fees, the coalition government has managed to
create a black hole in student finances and develop a funding system that is
haemorrhaging taxpayers’ money. The all-Party Public Accounts Committee says
taxpayers are facing a hole of as much as £80 billion in the student finances.
Debt write-off rates from the tripled tuition fees are now so high that the new
system is almost as expensive as the one it replaced.
So,
the government is proposing more cuts in spending on higher education.
Amongst
these is a proposal to ‘modernise’ (ie cut!) the Disabled Students
Allowance (DSA), because the current level of funding is ‘unsustainable’ (ie too
big!). The expenditure on DSA is about £125m a year – a drop in the ocean
of the overall budget.
In
2013, there were 215,370 disabled students in the UK, representing 8.6% of all
higher education students. 62.2% of disabled undergraduates who receive DSA
reached a first or upper second class honours degree, compared to 60.7% of
disabled students not receiving an allowance. More than 2,400 students at
Sheffield University and Sheffield Hallam University currently receive some
DSA.
The
exact amount of DSA for an individual is agreed after a needs assessment
conducted by a specialist staff member in consultation with the student. The
amount is specifically related to the student’s particular needs, whether that
be technology or transport.
I
strongly support equal access to higher education. It shouldn’t be determined
by whether your parents went to university or not, or whether they can afford
to support you or not, or, if you have a disability, whether you can only do
the course if you can personally and independently afford to pay for the
necessary aids.
I
fear that this government is reversing all the progress was made in equal
access after 1997. Unless you are wealthy enough for this not to be an issue,
someone in your family is almost certainly going to lose out.
[1] The number of young people from each Sheffield parliamentary
constituency entered an undergraduate course at a UK higher education
institution in (a) 1997-1998 and (b) 2007-2008:
1997/8
2007/8
Increase
Brightside
85
220
158.8%
Central
190
355
86.8%
Hillsborough
260
410
57.7%
Attercliffe
175
275
57.1%
Heeley
190
265
39.5%
Hallam
515
545
5.8%
Sheffield
1415
2070
46.2%
