Backlash over plan to link student loans to exam grades

Universities say proposed measures ‘directly at odds’ with levelling up

PLANS for student loans to be tied to minimum grade requirements could “entrench” disadvantages among poorer students, universities have warned.

A threshold of two E grades at A-level or GCSE passes in English and maths would be needed to access loan finance, which most students rely on to afford the £9,250-a-year tuition fees plus living costs.

Ministers insist the move will ensure taxpayer-funded student finance is spent on those most qualified for higher education, amid a crackdown on quality and “mickey mouse” degrees.

But vice-chancellors are fiercely opposed to the move in what risks becoming a major row with Whitehall.

The two-and-a-half month official consultation has now closed, revealing the scale of backlash, though a former government adviser predicted that ministers would “win” the argument.

In its response to the Government, Universities UK (UUK), which represents 140 vice-chancellors across Britain, warned the measure is “at odds with Government aims of levelling up”.

A minimum entry bar could “prevent some of the most disadvantaged students from achieving their potential and entrench their disadvantage”, UUK warned, including those on free school meals. Mature and foundation year students would be exempt.

The Russell Group and the National Union of Students have also lambasted the proposals. Around 5,000 teenagers who began university in 2019 did not have passes in

GCSE English and maths, or at least three Cs at A-level.

UUK cited research showing 29 of the 40 local authorities within the bottom quartile of GCSE attainment were in the Government’s highest priority areas for levelling up.

Office for Students data shows that universities accepting more than a fifth of students from the most deprived areas of the UK will be hit hardest, including those in Red Wall seats such as Wolverhampton, Middlesbrough and Bolton.

University chiefs also hit out at proposed reforms to bring back student number caps on poor-quality provision,

calling this a “heavyhanded” approach and a “cap on aspiration”.

Professor Steve West, president of UUK and vicechancellor of UWE Bristol, said: “Universities oppose student number caps in the strongest possible terms because they will hurt disadvantaged students the most.

“We agree with Government that geography should not limit opportunity, and avoiding student number caps is essential if we are to succeed in creating more opportunities to up skill for everyone, regardless of their background.”

A Department for Education source said no final decisions have yet been made, with ministers to respond in the final stage of the consultation process in due course.

Nick Hillman, director of the Higher Education Policy Institute, said the impacts of the measures on Red Wall seats “jolly well should” cause concern in Whitehall.