NUS gives universities ‘invoice’ for £24m originally budgeted for financial support
The National Union of Students (NUS) has launched a campaign demanding that UK universities hand over £24m “owed” to students in financial support. A government agency has criticised the Union’s use of statistics as “misleading”.
The NUS campaign is based on a report by the Office for Fair Access (OFFA), the goverment watchdog charged with monitoring university admissions, which shows that universities across the country have spent £24m less than originally budgeted for on bursaries and outreach programs for poorer students.
NUS Vice President for Education Wes Streeting said: “NUS is deeply concerned that universities have spent £24m less on bursaries and outreach activities than they had originally planned. We expect these institutions to reinvest this money in their widening participation activities.”
However, a spokesperson for the OFFA denied that the report showed universities reneging on spending pledges. She said: “It is misleading to describe the variance between estimated and actual expenditure as an ‘underspend’. We have always been clear that the expenditure levels set out in access agreements and the original financial returns were estimates based on assumptions of student profiles.”
The OFFA report, entitled ‘Access agreement monitoring: Outcomes for 2006 - 2007’, shows the University of York spent 17.1% of its additional income from fees on financial support, instead of the 19.2% it originally estimated. The difference equates to £41,000. The University also spent £21,000 less on outreach programs, designed to attract people less likely to go to university, than it originally budgeted for.
University Press Officer David Garner denied the University had underspent on its programs to widen participation. He said: “In any budget exercise, some difference between estimates and actual spending is not unusual. Figures from particular budget headings, taken in isolation, can often be misleading.” Garner would not comment on the NUS’ use of the OFFA report, saying “It is a matter for the NUS how it interprets the statistics.”
In the report’s foreword OFFA Director Sir Martin Harris said he was pleased with the progress that had been made however admitted that there had been problems in making students aware of the bursaries they were entitled to. According to the Student Loans Company as many as 12,000 eligible students may have failed to apply for financial support.
The OFFA spokesperson said the agency would continue to encourage universities to make students aware of all benefits available to them. She said: “We have stressed to the whole sector the importance of managing bursary take-up proactively and we expect efforts to raise bursary awareness to continue, and where necessary improve, to ensure that as many students as possible claim their bursaries.”
