Degree Fees from 2012 Onwards
- Introduction – a new fee regime
From September 2012 the much heralded new higher education fee regime comes into being in England. Under that regime setting fees will be the responsibility of each university up to a limit of £9,000 per annum for a full-time student. The aim is to introduce a “market place” for higher education linked to a student loans system which effectively means that English students pay no up front fee, but repay it as a “graduate tax” once their income is over a threshold level. However, for Jersey students, who cannot take advantage of student loans, it means increasing higher education costs.
Until now ESC has effectively treated Highlands as if it was an English university and our fees were “pegged” to those negotiated with Universities in UK. The change to these arrangements provides the opportunity to develop a new fees structure, in line with the ‘User Pays’ principle, designed to provide sustainable funding for Highlands’ University Centre together with affordable on-Island degree education, thereby ensuring Jersey students are not subjected to increasing UK rates. Highlands is developing a cost effective on-Island degree provision through its University Centre. However, to plan for the future we need to set our fees from September 2012 at a level which reflects the cost of the provision.
- A new methodology for setting degrees fees
We are suggesting using a new approach to setting degree fees. This approach will produce fees that cover the full costs of tuition including degree development costs and a contribution to overheads.
- Current fee levels and their impact
The current fee for a classroom based programme is £4,694 and £6,268 for a workshop based degree. At this fee level the degree programme makes an annual deficit of £50,324 and provides no contribution to overheads. The degree programme is being cross subsidised from the main budget. The main reason for the deficit is due to a reduction in fees of 8% for the 2011/12 academic year, driven by the ‘pegging’ to the UK fees. Had these fees been increased by the States non-inflationary 2.5%, the levels would have been £5,214 and £6,952 respectively.
- A sustainable fee for the future
A new fee structure should reflect the costs of:
- delivering the programme - including the direct costs of teaching, library and other costs such as information sourcing
- the development of new degrees - plans are in place to develop a number of new opportunities for Islanders, which could include a health care degree in conjunction with the Hospital, and a sports and events management programme
- the fees paid to partner universities for quality assurance
- a contribution to College’s overheads
- scholarly activities - there is mounting pressure from our partner universities for staff teaching on degree programmes to undertake a greater level of scholarly activities and research to inform their teaching. The new fee will support locally qualified staff gain post graduate qualifications and there will be less need to bring in J-category staff to teach on degree programmes
- Recommended fees for new students in 2012
Highlands is recommending setting fees at the following levels for new students starting on a full-time degree programme from September 2012:
- Classroom based subjects £5,550
- Work-shop based subjects £6,500
- UK/EEA/Overseas students £7,500
Part-time students will be charged 50% of the full-time fee. Continuing students on years 2 and 3 of the programme will continue to be charged on the current basis, i.e. existing fee plus UK RPI(X), which is estimated to be between 3.5% and 4.0%. Fees will be reviewed annually. Details of projected income and expenditure are contained in the accompanying spreadsheet.
Impact on Students
Fee Type | 2011 Actual £ | 2011 Re-stated (See para 3) £ | 2012 £ | Increase on Actual % | Increase on Re-stated % |
Classroom based | 4,694 | 5,214 | 5,550 | 18% | 6% |
Workshop based | 6,268 | 6,952 | 6,500 | 4% | (7%) |
It is estimated that there will be 52 first year students in classroom based subjects and 13 students in workshop based subjects in 2012/13 who will be affected by the new fee. Of these, on average, 50% are eligible for student grants. Therefore, additional income generated for the ESC Department in the first year is:-
(26 x (£5,550 - £4,694) = £22,256) + (6.5 x (£6,500 - £6,268) = £ 1,508)
which totals £23,764 or 3.6%.
Fee Comparison
Institution | Annual Funding / Fee £ |
Highlands College – classroom based degree | 5,550 |
Cornwall College degree fee | 6,000 |
Jersey Institute for Law | 6,250 |
Highlands College – workshop based degree | 6,500 |
JIBS Financial Services degree fee | 8,750 |
Plymouth University | 9,000 |
Such a fee structure will make the University Centre self-funding and will ensure the long term viability of the University Centre at Highlands. The proposed fees are comparable to the amount Highlands College receives for a further education student and are highly competitive when compared with most English universities who are charging between £8,000 to £9,000 per annum.
E Sallis
April 2012
gov.je