Scrap middle-class bursaries, universities told

By Julie Henry, Education Correspondent Published: 9:00PM GMT twenty February 2010

In an epoch of appropriation cuts, bursaries for those from "higher income" homes and non-means tested scholarships should be cut to aim resources some-more "efficiently", according to the Office for Fair Access (OFFA), the higher preparation entrance regulator.

Only disadvantaged students should good from the bursary pot that universities are thankful to provide, the organization pronounced in the acquiescence to the Government"s fees review.

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The call puts in danger the monetary await paid by institutions to thousands of students from center category homes.

While majority universities suggest inexhaustible await to those from households where the income is less than £25,000 the turn at that they validate for a full Government accede to a series suggest prejudiced bursaries to students from family groups earning some-more than stand in that.

Essex University provides a income upkeep bursary on a shifting scale for those whose family groups consequence in in in between £32,690 and £60,005.

Cambridge gives monetary await on a shifting scale to students from "lower-middle income family backgrounds" of up to £50,000.

Students at Bristol are entitled to £310 a year if they come from households earning in in in between £40,001 and £50,020, that rises to £1,075 a year for field from the city.

At Oxford, students embrace sliding-scale bursaries if domicile income is £49,999 or under, whilst at Brighton University, the cut off is £40,300.

Bursaries awarded to students from medium equates to were dictated to give assistance to those who get small or no Government grant, since they are not bad enough, but whose relatives are not rich sufficient to minister towards the weight of £3,225 a year fee fees and vital costs.

But in the initial acquiescence to the Lord Browne exploration in to fees and university funding, OFFA pronounced that faced with monetary constraints, institutions should "rebalance their funds", directing some-more income to bad students or to schemes to inspire deprived pupils to go to university.

"Some institutions right away suggest bursaries to students on higher incomes, or suggest bursaries or scholarships that are not means-tested," it said.

"Efficiencies competence be found by targeting bursaries softened at the majority disadvantaged students.

"We are happy to cruise revisions that concede institutions to rebalance their supports so that income is outlayed where it can have the biggest impact.

For example, a small institutions competence confirm that a small of the income they outlay on bursaries quite targeted at students with higher incomes competence be some-more usefully outlayed on formulating stronger links with schools in disadvantaged areas, or alternative one more outreach."

Essex University shielded the bursary scheme. It pronounced it not long ago lifted the starting point for bursaries from £38,000 to £60,000 to try to await students who get small assistance from the state.

"We were apropos wakeful of a slot of students that does not get really majority assistance at all and we privately lifted it to the higher turn to have certain that these students were not blank out," pronounced a spokesman.

"We were additionally disturbed about the uptake of bursaries and thought this could be addressed by augmenting the suit of those that are eligible."

A vice-chancellor from one of the Russell Group universities said: "Targeting await where it is majority indispensable is critical but we don"t wish young kids from middle-income family groups to be heedful of requesting to higher education."

University grant schemes, that prerogative merit, could additionally right away be reined in.

Manchester University, for instance, pays the cost of fee fees for chemistry students with 3 A grades at A-level, whilst Sheffield University gives engineering students £260 for each A class they completed at A-level.

Hull offers engineering and record scholarships of £1,500 for students with 3 B grades or softened and Leeds has ten craving scholarships this year value up to £4,000 each.

The regulator, combined in 2004 to safeguard that universities yield bursaries and capture under-represented groups, additionally criticised the "slow progress" done on widening entrance at chosen universities.

It pronounced in the acquiescence that the Russell Group of the twenty majority resourceful institutions had in all not softened their money coming in of students from poorer backgrounds.

Sir Martin Harris, the executive of OFFA, will inform to ministers subsequent month on what heading universities should do to urge access.

Bahram Bekhradnia, the executive of the Higher Education Policy Institute, said: "Bursaries are being used to a small border as an instrument to capture the majority means to institutions, not to enlarge and await the numbers of poorer students who go there.

"OFFA"s new line seems to be positively right."