Students and the rising cost of living
This briefing explains how the rising cost of living has affected further and higher education students in the UK.

This House of Commons briefing paper gives an overview of the Government's policy on widening participation in higher education. It also outlines widening participation strategies and statistics, discusses evaluation of activities and raises current issues.
Widening participation strategy in higher education in England (4 MB , PDF)
The widening participation agenda in higher education has been in place for decades. Widening participation straregy aims to address discrepancies in the take-up of higher education opportunities between different under-represented groups of students.
Students from disadvantaged backgrounds, lower income households and other under-represented groups may face barriers to entry to higher education. Widen participation schemes attempt to remove these barriers and improve access to education, progress within higher education and to improve graduate outcomes and employability.
Widening participation in higher education is currently delivered:
The numbers of disadvantaged young people going into higher education have risen significantly in the past decade and are now at a record high and despite the increase in tuition fees in 2012.
However progress against targets has been slow.
In 2015 the Government set two targets for widening participation in higher education by 2020:
Past widening participation strategies have focused on the provision of financial support and outreach activities. Current widening participation strategies aim to be ‘smarter’ and to support activities which have demonstrable impact in improving access and participation, progress in higher education and employment outcomes.
This briefing paper aims to provide an overview of policy on widening participation and widening participation activity, to give sources of statistics on access to higher education in England, to evaluate progress in widening participation and to flag up current issues.
Widening participation strategy in higher education in England (4 MB , PDF)
This briefing explains how the rising cost of living has affected further and higher education students in the UK.
This briefing provides information and the key issues on home education in England as well as current and past proposals for reform.
Average loan debt and the overall scale of loans have increased over time as the Government has shifted funding for maintenance and teaching to loans. This has led to concerns about the burden of debt, high interest rates and the cost of loans to the taxpayer.