Paying for Higher Education in England

Funding Policy and Families

Bibliographic Data

ID8405838
AuthorsAnne West (0000-0003-2932-7667, London School of Economics and Political Science, corresponding author), Jonathan Roberts (0000-0003-0410-5777, London School of Economics and Political Science), Jane Lewis (0000-0002-1184-4298, London School of Economics and Political Science), Philip Noden (London School of Economics and Political Science)
Year2015
Volume63
Issue1
Pages23-45
Publication date2015-01-02
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueBritish Journal of Educational Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0007-1005 • E-ISSN: 1467-8527
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/00071005.2014.990353
OpenAlexW2028801755
LanguageEN
Citations received14
References cited35

Responsibility for meeting the costs of higher education in England has moved inexorably away from the government toward the family with the introduction of tuition fee and maintenance loans. Although an important public policy issue, there is limited research on how the policy impinges on the private sphere of the family. This paper focuses on financial support given by parents, including difficulties and constraints along with their perspectives of and responses to student loan debt, and students’ views of their financial independence. In-depth interviews with 28 parent–student dyads revealed different patterns of support. Some parents, contrary to policy assumptions, felt responsibility for their children’s student loan debt and acted to avoid, minimise or cushion the debt. There was evidence of financial stress for less affluent families. However, students with no parental support and high levels of government funding felt financially independent. The findings suggest that more affluent families were able to protect their children from student loan debt in different ways, whilst those with lower incomes were not able to do so, apparently creating a new form of inequality

Business · Debt · Economic growth · Economics · Financial independence · Government (linguistics) · Higher education · Independence (probability theory) · Inequality · Loan · Public policy · Student debt · Student loan · Family Support in Illness · Finance · Social Policy and Reform Studies · Youth Education and Societal Dynamics