College dropout: Student loan hikes and hubris

After two successive years of increasing university dropout rates — especially rapid among students from the most disadvantaged areas — it is time for the government to reconsider the effect of large student debts upon university accessibility, and thus to re-evaluate the recent replacement of maintenance grants for students from low-income households with additional, burdensome loans.… Read more »

Widening the lens on British universities: Neoliberalism, price tags and value

The alarming growth of student debts is the most tangible and evocative manifestation of intergenerational injustice in the current system of higher education. But it is only an emblem of a wider process that has increasingly undermined British universities in the last four decades. Rohin Burney-O’Dowd, IF summer intern, investigates

A summer of higher education discontent

The shock Labour party manifesto promise to remove tuition fees, as part of a pledge to young people in the recent General Election, has led to increasing scrutiny of the higher education finance system over the summer. Liz Emerson, IF Co-founder, investigates