Minimum bursary to be 10% of upper fee limit, says OFFA

The Office for Fair Access today announced that from 2010-11 the minimum bursary (note 1) will be 10% of the upper tuition fee limit.

This means that in 2010-11 the minimum bursary will be £329, an above inflation increase of 3.1% (note 2) from the previous level of £319 in 2009-10.

The new 10% level follows revised guidance to OFFA from David Lammy, Minister of State for Higher Education and Intellectual Property ending the requirement for the minimum bursary to make up the difference between the maximum maintenance grant and the tuition fee charged. This in turn follows recent government changes to student support levels which include maintaining the state maintenance grant for 2010-11 at 2009-10 levels.

Commenting on the new 10% minimum bursary level, Sir Martin says: “In 2006, the first year of the new student support arrangements, the minimum bursary was £300 which was 10% of the then maximum fee of £3,000.

“By re-establishing this 10% level for future years, we will ensure that the value of the bursary is not eroded over time in comparison to the fee. This will give assurance to students and institutions alike.”

Although OFFA will only require universities and colleges to offer a minimum bursary of £329, it expects them to seriously consider offering a bursary that continues to make up the difference between the state maintenance grant and the fee they charge. For universities and colleges charging the maximum tuition fee and currently only paying the minimum bursary, this would mean offering a bursary of £384 for 2010-11. However, OFFA recognises that in some cases institutions may judge that they can spend this extra money more usefully on other widening participation activity or enhancing the student experience. In practice, most universities and colleges already give far more than the minimum bursary (note 3). The average bursary for students in receipt of the full state maintenance grant is around £900.

In his revised guidance to OFFA, David Lammy explains that following the decision to maintain the state maintenance grant at 2009-10 levels, some universities which currently only offer the minimum bursary because they already have a very diverse student intake would have to increase their current bursary commitments by around 20% over one year in order to continue to meet the gap between the maintenance grant and upper fee limit.

The Minister writes: “Therefore, whilst I continue to expect you to prescribe a minimum bursary requirement for the lowest income students (those whose residual family income entitles them to the maximum state maintenance grant), I no longer expect that this should make up the difference between the maximum grant and the fee charged.

“I now ask you, as Director of Fair Access, to determine an appropriate and reasonable formula for a minimum bursary which continues to provide institutions with a clear understanding of their minimum obligation to their lowest income students, whilst allowing them to continue to develop their wider bursary policies and access plans in such ways that will most effectively promote widened participation and fair access.

“The detail of this is for you to decide but the minimum bursary you set should not be less than the minimum bursary entitlement for 2009-10 (i.e. £319).”

Notes to editors

1. In 2010-11, the minimum bursary applies to students receiving the full state maintenance grant and being charged a tuition fee of more than £2,961. The minimum bursary for students on the full state maintenance grant who are being charged the maximum fee of £3,290 will be £329.
2. On 1 July 2009 the Government announced that tuition fees for 2010-11 will rise by an inflationary increase of 2.04%.
3. In 2009-10, 87% of higher education institutions will offer bursaries above the minimum bursary of £319 for students receiving the full state maintenance grant.
4. The new guidance to OFFA from David Lammy, Minister of State for Higher Education and Intellectual Property is on the OFFA website under http://www.offa.org.uk/about/, together with the original guidance from the then Secretary of State Charles Clarke setting out his expectations around the minimum bursary level.
5. In 2007/08, the second year of the new student finance regime, universities and colleges spent almost £192m on bursaries and scholarships for lower income students.
6. More than 70 per cent of this £192m went to the poorest students with household incomes of less than £17,910.