Study on the costs of participation in higher education

This study sets out to examine the costs of participating in higher education (HE) for full-time undergraduate students from diverse backgrounds. The study stems from a review of funding for higher education, ‘Progressing the action plan: funding to achieve equity of access to higher education’, published in 2005 by the Higher Education Authority [indexed at TD/TNC 99.790]. Many of those consulted during that review expressed views regarding the adequacy of the current student grant scheme, with the supplementary supports such as the Student Assistance Fund and Millennium Partnership Fund considered vital in meeting the shortfall. The review suggested that students from disadvantaged backgrounds are overly dependent on income from paid employment to meet the costs of going to college, which may have an impact on their retention in higher education and their examination performance. In the light of these and other findings, the review recommended that a study be undertaken to look at the costs of attending college for an increasingly diverse student population: students from disadvantaged backgrounds, mature students and students with a disability. This study sets out to examine these costs for different groups of students, limited to the full-time undergraduate population only, and to relate these costs to levels of income among students. The following objectives guide the study: (1) to review the literature, both national and international, relating to student participation in HE, with particular respect to the issues facing students from diverse backgrounds; (2) to review and assess the methodologies used to assess student costs and student financial needs for a diverse group of students, and, with respect to available data, to decide on the present study's methodological approach; (3) to identify the main costs for students from diverse backgrounds to allow their full participation in HE: including the academic, social and cultural dimensions of college life; and (4) to discuss the main policy issues arising from the research.

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