Support for poorer students ‘bigger priority than reducing fees’

Reintroducing maintenance grants and prioritising support for disadvantaged students should be seen as bigger priorities for a future UK government than abolishing tuition fees, according to new polling.

High public support for getting rid of the £9,250 yearly cost of taking a degree in England erodes as practicalities are taken into account, with little enthusiasm for raising taxes to pay for universities, Public First and Progressive Britain found in a report published on 9 October.

With the Labour Party conference beginning in Liverpool, the research also suggests that Sir Keir Starmer’s decision to scrap his party’s pledge to abolish fees will not cause him electoral damage. Forty-three per cent of those polled backed the decision to U-turn on the pledge, compared with 30 per cent who opposed it, with the proportions higher among swing voters.

“Tuition fees are not a popular policy, and in the abstract there is a high level of support for fee abolition,” the report states. Forty-five per cent of people agreed that “university should be free for students, with the cost of their education covered by the government and paid for through general taxation”.

But when asked to prioritise against other spending commitments or told how much fee cuts would cost the taxpayer, this enthusiasm falls away. Just 32 per cent supported abolishing fees when told that it would cost £11 billion a year, and 29 per cent said they would support rises in their basic rate tax payments to cover the cost. Raising corporation tax to pay for fee abolition was the only option that received net positive support.

In contrast, reintroducing maintenance grants for poorer students “is popular with voters, and was seen as a greater priority than the abolition of tuition fees themselves”, the report states.

When voters were asked directly if they supported reintroducing maintenance grants, with the extra cost paid for via increased taxation, 55 per cent said they did and 50 per cent said they would be more likely to vote for a party that pledged such a policy.

The polling also identified support for cutting fees for specific groups, for example students from low-income families or those taking courses seen as socially or economically important.

Introducing a graduate tax was more popular than abolishing fees overall, and enjoyed higher support among younger voters. And 59 per cent backed the idea that corporations should pay more into the system “as a levy businesses pay to universities who train their workers”.

Nathan Yeowell, executive director of Progressive Britain, said the findings showed that the public “don’t want a revolution in funding structures” for higher education but they “share with the Labour Party a desire for a more progressive system of fees, one which does more to give those from the poorest backgrounds the chance to get on”.

Ed Dorrell, partner at Public First, said the public were “as ever, quite sensible” in that “they see the value that universities can add both to individual young people and to society – and that students, especially from the poorest homes, should be supported to study.

“But they also see that other avenues need to be funded properly, especially the creation of a much wider and more extensive apprenticeship offer. Labour would do well to act on this insight.”

tom.williams@timeshighereducation.com