Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of the increases in the cost of living on university student dropout rates.

The department recognises the additional cost of living pressures that have arisen this year which have impacted students.

Students who have been awarded a loan for living costs for the 2022/23 academic year that is lower than the maximum, and whose household income for the tax year 2022/23 has dropped by at least 15% compared to the income provided for their original assessment, can apply for their entitlement to be reassessed.

We are making ongoing assessments of the data available to us on student withdrawals. This includes the Student Loans Company (SLC) reports on notifications received of student withdrawal from higher education (HE), and this data is published here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/early-in-year-student-withdrawal-notifications-academic-year-201819-to-202223.

Authoritative data on students not continuing or completing their HE studies by person characteristics is published by the Office for Students in the ‘Student characteristics data: Outcomes data’ dashboard. This can be accessed at: https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/data-and-analysis/student-characteristics-data/outcomes-data-dashboard/.

The Office for National Statistics has twice surveyed students directly on the impact of cost-of-living pressures. The most recent report, published 24 February 2023 is available to view here: https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/educationandchildcare/bulletins/costoflivingandhighereducationstudentsengland/30januaryto13february2023.

The next SLC report on student withdrawal from HE is due to be published on 30 March 2023.