Counting the cost of the Augar review – July 2019

economics-of-education||106education||0higher-education||106public-policy||0
Practice area:Economics of Education | Education and Labour Markets | Higher education | Public Policy
Client:N/A
Published: 2 July, 2019
Keywords: modelling quantitative analysis

Following the publication of the Augur Review in May 2019, London Economics undertook a detailed analysis of the Review’s core recommendations for higher education funding on the Treasury, universities, students and graduates. Focusing on the resource flows associated with the 2018/19 cohort of first-year English-domiciled undergraduate students (studying anywhere in the UK) and EU-domiciled students studying in England, the analysis compares the current system to one based on eight core Augur recommendations, including:

• The proposed reduction in the maxim fee to £7,500 per annum alongside top-up Teaching Grant funding;
• The re-introduction of means-tested maintenance grants, acting as a partial replacement to existing maintenance loans for the least well-off students;
• Changes to the student loan repayment terms including the removal of real interest rates during study, the reduction in the repayment threshold and the corresponding interest rate thresholds, and the extension of the loan repayment period to 40 years; and
• A lifetime loan repayment cap.

The presentation concludes with an assessment of the core winners and losers of these Augur recommendations.