eprintid: 1475194
rev_number: 21
eprint_status: archive
userid: 608
dir: disk0/01/47/51/94
datestamp: 2016-03-02 14:24:34
lastmod: 2021-03-29 02:33:55
status_changed: 2016-03-02 14:24:34
type: article
metadata_visibility: show
creators_name: Wyness, G
title: Deserving Poor: Are Higher Education Bursaries Going to the Right Students?
ispublished: pub
divisions: UCL
divisions: A01
divisions: B16
divisions: B14
divisions: J82
divisions: KC6
keywords: widening participation, higher education, higher education funding policies
note: This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
abstract: After the abolition of student maintenance grants in 2016, higher education bursaries will be the major source of non-repayable aid for poor students in England, with £300 m spent per year. The aims of the bursary system were never explicitly laid out by government, making it challenging to evaluate this unique form of aid. In this paper, I examine the bursary system on the grounds of equity and efficiency, using a unique dataset collected from 22 universities. I show that the bursary system is inequitable; as a direct consequence of the decentralized nature of the system, there are vast inequalities in aid receipt among poor students. Nevertheless, I find that the poorest, most able students tend to receive the most bursary aid, suggesting the system could be seen as efficient. Clearer guidance from government on the purpose of bursaries is required in order to understand whether the system is meeting its aims, and how it could be improved.
date: 2016-02-24
date_type: published
publisher: MDPI AG
official_url: http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/educsci6010005
oa_status: green
full_text_type: pub
language: eng
primo: open
primo_central: open_green
article_type_text: Article
verified: verified_manual
elements_id: 1113308
doi: 10.3390/educsci6010005
lyricists_name: Wyness, Gillian
lyricists_id: GWYNE77
actors_name: Wyness, Gillian
actors_id: GWYNE77
actors_role: owner
full_text_status: public
publication: Education Sciences
volume: 6
number: 1
article_number: 5
event_location: UK
issn: 2227-7102
citation:        Wyness, G;      (2016)    Deserving Poor: Are Higher Education Bursaries Going to the Right Students?                   Education Sciences , 6  (1)    , Article 5.  10.3390/educsci6010005 <https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci6010005>.       Green open access   
 
document_url: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1475194/1/Wyness_education-06-00005.pdf