The controversial decision to slash maintenance grants for poorer students should be reversed, Theresa May has said as a major review of tuition fees is published.
The outgoing PM will urge her successor to reintroduce the £3,000-a-year grants for students from low-income backgrounds, which David Cameron scrapped to save costs in 2015.
Education charities welcomed May’s comments but the National Union of Students said the announcement was “too little too late” and the PM was “trying desperately to shore up a legacy which is not the current Brexit chaos”.
The independent review of post-18 education, led by banker Dr Philip Augar, recommended that as well as reinstating the grants, the annual tuition fee cap should also be lowered from £9,250 to £7,500.
The PM, in her final week in the job, will use a speech in London on Thursday to say the Coalition’s calculation to cut the grants to cut costs “has not worked”.
Former education secretary Justine Greening, who was removed during a Cabinet reshuffle in 2018, was among those who had been calling for the maintenance grant to be reinstated.
How to reform tuition fees will be a key decision for whoever succeeds May as PM after the Labour Party made an audacious, and largely successful, bid for younger voters at the last election by pledging to slash fees altogether.
“I was not surprised to see the panel argue for the reintroduction of means-tested maintenance grants both for university students and those studying for higher technical qualifications,” May will say.
“Such a move would ensure students are supported whichever route they choose, and save those from the poorest backgrounds over £9,000.
“It will be up to the government to decide, at the upcoming spending review, whether to follow this recommendation.
“But my view is very clear: removing maintenance grants from the least well-off students has not worked, and I believe it is time to bring them back.”
Ordered by the PM in February, the review was aimed at easing the growing burden of debt on university graduates while finding a way to ensure the sector was sustainable.
It also says the loan repayment period should be extended to 40 years after study has ended so those who borrow continue to contribute.
The president of the National Union of Students, Shakira Martin, said she was “glad that the Prime Minister is coming round to our view” that the grants were vital.
But she said May’s “legacy in higher education will always be the deportation of thousands of our international student friends and colleagues” and her shift in position was “too little too late”.
She added: “She has been a key part of successive governments which raised tuition fees, initially slashed maintenance grants and NHS bursaries, and increased and promoted the hostile environment. Her change in stance comes late in the day as she tries desperately to shore up a legacy which is not the current Brexit chaos.
“I’d like to remind the Prime Minister that these recommendations stand to effect the lives of millions of students, whose lives, well-being and welfare should never be used as political football.”
May will also say that many courses do not cost £9,000 per student per year to teach and that fees need major reform.
Dr Augar, chairman of the review panel, said increased government contributions would ensure the university sector was sustainable.
A total of 53 recommendations in the review cover the 50% of young people who do not attend higher education, as well as the 50% who do.
He said: “Our work revealed that post-18 education in England is a story of both care and neglect, depending on whether students are amongst the 50% of young people who participate in higher education or the rest.
“The panel believes that this disparity simply has to be addressed.”
He added: “Our proposals are designed to build on the considerable achievements of our universities – one of the UK’s world class industries – with a particular focus on the economy’s needs and improving value for money for students and taxpayers.
“We also seek to rebuild further education, for too long the Cinderella sector, and see technical and vocational education as a means of addressing the country’s skills gap.
“We are firmly of the view that post-18 education should be a lifelong experience available to all, irrespective of age, situation or income.
“Our proposals are intended to create such a system.”
Despite the government boosting education or training places for every 16 to 19-year old, rolling out T Levels, and creating high-quality apprenticeships, the Prime Minister will say more must be done for the 50% of young people who do not go to university.
May, who launched the review last February, will conclude: “I have always believed and I still truly believe that, if this is to be a country that works for everyone, then we have to make education work for everyone.
“But only by taking action now will we be able to deliver the lasting change and improvements we need in further and higher education.
“And give every child and young person in this country the education they need to reach their true, incredible potential.”
Tuition fees in England were trebled in 2012, and the vast majority of courses now cost the maximum, £9,250 per year.
According to estimates by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), the average student can now leave university owing more than £50,000.
But the panel is recommending the cap on the fee chargeable should be reduced to £7,500 per year, and could be introduced by 2021/22.
Responding to the review, the Fair Access Coalition said: “A lot of progress has been made in widening access to higher education, but we need to be careful that these gains are not sent into reverse.
“There is a lot to be welcomed in the Augar recommendations.
“An increase in maintenance support, more support for part-time degrees, greater flexibility to gain a degree through bitesize courses, a funding boost for further education, are all welcome steps.
“But they will do nothing to improve social mobility overall if the funding for widening participation activity is cut.”