- By Sarra Jenkins, Director of Future Pathways at Loughborough Grammar School.
The headlines made by the financial uncertainties within the Higher Education sector have been widespread in recent months. QMUCU has a running list of the currently 90 organisations with redundancy and restructuring programmes, and the Office for Students predicts more than one-third of universities will face ‘serious cash flow problems’. For the sector and those in it, this creates uncertainty. It also creates uncertainty for students making decisions on their university choices, in both an emotional and logistical way. So, what challenges do university advisers face when advising students in the current climate?
Before application
When students are considering their higher education options, research is crucial. I have previously written about the importance of ‘best fit’ for trying to ensure a student will thrive at university. However, when students are researching institutions about which headlines have been written in terms of their financial security, it creates uncertainty and raises questions for students. These questions are often ones that do not have obvious or immediate answers, but they can make it difficult for students to feel that they can make effective decisions.
This also makes it difficult to advise students on the post-18 plans. When the sector within which the students are researching is facing the financial concerns that it currently is, it makes it challenging to advise them accurately. One training session I attended drew attention to this, but effectively argued that students should not be too concerned with what is going on. This is well-meaning advice, but it does little to reassure them in the face of the headlines they see when they conduct their research.
Course withdrawals during application
Another way students may experience the impact of the financial issues in higher education is through course withdrawals. There have been news reports of universities deciding to cut courses due to the financial challenges they face. But this also affects prospective students. If a course is withdrawn before an application is made, at least the research that a prospective student carries out can take this into account in their decision-making. However, what about after an application is made?
I had a student this year who was delighted to get an offer from the university they wanted to be their first-choice institution. They had put considerable effort and focus into their post-18 research and were able to get their application sent very early in the application cycle. This allowed them to focus on their A Levels and on getting the grades they would need to get in if they received an offer. In October, they received the offer they wanted, only to have it withdrawn in January after it was decided the course would not run in this academic year. As all of this occurred before the Equal Consideration Deadline, the student could remove this withdrawn option and put another university and course onto their UCAS form. But this logistical solution hides the emotional toll this took on the student.
Initially, all of their well-formed and carefully researched plans were now in disarray. They could look at other options, and we did identify similar courses at different institutions. But understandably, these other options were not what the student wanted or had planned for. Having received an offer, they had set both their heart and their head on accepting it. Having it withdrawn was not simply a case of ‘finding something else’; rather, it undid months of research in the manner that every university adviser hopes their students will approach this decision.
Students may also see other changes occurring during their application. At one university, headlines were created when departments were merged. In this case, I had a student who held an offer at one of these departments, and who then raised questions about what this meant for them. The answer might be that such changes may have relatively little impact on the student experience, however it does create uncertainty and unsettles the student.
As a university adviser in this situation, we can try and help the student make the best decisions in the circumstances. But it does undermine the plans they had started to put together, either internally or in reality, about their next steps. This could also potentially undermine the success and speed of their transition to HE.
Course withdrawals during a course
Some withdrawals happen once a course has begun. Whilst universities might be supportive of students who find themselves in this unfortunate situation, it still undermines the research a student has done and the subsequent choices that they have made in accepting and taking up an offer.
I had a student get in touch this year having had their course withdrawn just before Easter of their first year. Being so relatively new to university, the student came back and sought advice and support for an entirely new application. They had been offered a place on a different course by their university, but it did not have the focus and modules that they wanted. Instead of seeking a transfer, they sought to re-apply to university and begin again elsewhere in the first year.
Again, whilst universities or school university advisers can try and help students make the best decisions in these circumstances, a decision has ultimately been placed on the student beyond their control. This does happen within the world of work too, however when students are paying to take up their higher education choices, it is important that they have agency in the choice and that their decision is right for them, not simply a fallback over which they had little control.
Moving forward
None of these situations reflects a preferred situation for a university, let alone a student. Clearly, none of these decisions are taken lightly by universities. Equally, this is, of course, not a UK-specific problem. Having visited the Netherlands recently, we saw protest signs about higher education cuts in Utrecht, and as I write this piece, reports are coming from the US of the Pentagon ending all funding for social science research. Those facing redundancies and restructuring are undoubtedly feeling the brunt of these financial concerns.
Additionally, though, perhaps it is worth recognising the impact of this uncertainty on prospective students. The resilience they need to deal with such changes may yet not be fully formed, and this is one of the first major decisions in their lives over which they are likely to have considerable agency. Knowing these possibilities can help university advisers better prepare students. As universities look to their new intake in September, and open day season in the coming months, perhaps they could consider the reassurances that are possible to prospective students too.