Students have unrealistic expectations of the financial support universities can offer them
Livia Scott is Partnerships Coordinator at Wonkhe
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When thinking about student hardship, is it more impactful to give all students a bit of cash, or a small “more deserving” few a large lump sum?
Deciding how best to allocate resources is hardly a new question for universities. But it also intersects with what they’re expecting to be provided – and it looks like their expectations may be too high. With more students requesting support than ever before, and many universities tightening their metaphorical belts, the question of how you dish out limited resources is one we’d all welcome an easy answer to. That’s what Blackbullion has tried to get to the bottom of in their recent report with the National Association of Student Money Advisors (NASMA).
Sadly the short answer to the question of whether blanket awards are always better for students is that it does depend on the individual student’s situation.
What is clear, however, is that there are some perhaps unrealistic expectations amongst students when it comes to the possibility of supplementary income support. Three out of ten students surveyed who received financial support in the past year got above two grand. On average, students said they needed around £2,517 for their financial situation to have improved in the long term. Two thirds of students who received an award of financial support in the past twelve months said it improved their financial situation, regardless of the amount received. They felt that any money went towards improving their financial situation in the short term, but was not enough to do so for the full academic year.
There is a question that surrounds the purpose of financial aid that is not specified in the sample. But if institutions are assessing the maximum amount of money provided through bursaries for those who qualify, it is worth assessing if the top figures have risen in line with inflation. Or, alternatively, where qualification is based on means, have the thresholds for students to qualify been uplifted to account for rising wages, increased living costs, or declining currency values.
Some of the students’ high expectations may come from frustration with the measly rises in maintenance loans over the past few years. But the report also suggests this could be because of a misalignment of expectations from institutions themselves as the pressure to recruit new students, especially as tuition fees’ real term value has drastically decreased, students may be missing the crux of the message about money – institutions won’t be able to plug enormous financial gaps.
As such, the question of how much it is an institution’s responsibility to demystify popular beliefs around fees and funding remains live.
The sense of “expectations vs. reality” when it comes to the support available does seem a prominent thread throughout the responses. An obvious caveat is that it’s not clear how many respondents were international students. From the 1,007 students who were asked how much money they would need to make a significant difference to their financial situation, seven per cent said they needed more than £10,000, and many mentioned tuition fees in their answer as to why they needed this amount. Blackbullion has indicated this could mean they are international students.
We know there is a gap between the amount of money the home office requires international students to have in their bank accounts ahead of signing up for study in the UK, but enhanced focus on the financial aspects of studying at university as part of pre-arrival activities for both home and international students may be beneficial.
That’s especially true when it comes to up-to-date information on the real cost of study, including accommodation in the area, cost of transport to campus, equipment needed versus what is provided and how clear this is before a students begins study.
I think in answer to your first question, it may depend on the type of impact you want to make/ measure. In a recent article we found that extra cash made most difference (in terms of student retention/ continuation) to students with lower household income backgrounds. That part was intuitive. More surprising was that the actual amount (at least within the scope of what was awarded in this study) didn’t seem to matter much, which points towards either the amounts not differing enough to make a difference, or to a more psychological explanation of the effect: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03075079.2022.2125950
It could also mean support services are making good contextual choices and awarding accurately based on need. For the student that’s 200 quid short of the rent, 200 is enough to make a difference. For the one that’s 2000 short, it isn’t. However, even though different levels of support are needed, both are just as evicted without it.
Thanks for this Liz, this is really interesting. I think it speaks to that point that “all help was appreciated”, while either not being enough to fiscally make a difference or, as you suggest, potentially it is about feeling as though they have been supported seems to matter. I think, generally, the research from Blackbullion and NASMA speaks to the point that students feel they are caught short (to varying degrees), likely because of maintenance support and parent income thresholds not being uplifted accordingly, and there is now an expectation that somebody, and usually this falls to universities, must fill this gap.