Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what funding has been allocated by (a) his Department and (b) universities to support students during the (i) 2017-18, (ii) 2018-19 and (iii) 2019-20 academic year.

In the academic year 2017/18, the total amount paid/awarded through the Student Loans Company to students domiciled in England and students domiciled in the EU and studying in England was £16.5 billion [1]. This included grants, allowances and tuition fee and maintenance loans. The equivalent figure for 2018/19 was £17.1 billion. Equivalent figures are not yet available for the 2019/20 academic year.

The value of the government’s contribution via the Student Loans Company loans is contingent upon future repayments and interest rates.

The Office for Students (OfS) is responsible for distributing funding to the sector on behalf of the Department for Education. While the OfS distributes funding to higher education providers based on the academic year, the department allocates funding based on the financial year.

In the financial year 2017/18, the Higher Education Funding Council for England (the OfS’s predecessor) allocated £1.607 billion [2] in recurrent and capital teaching funding. The equivalent figures for 2018/19 and 2019/20 were £1.538 billion and £1.487 billion respectively. The 2019/20 allocation was published in February 2019.

The teaching grant is allocated to providers to support various activities, including high-cost subject funding, where tuition fees alone do not cover the full costs of provision, and the costs of supporting students most at risk of discontinuing their studies.

Information on the full range of financial support made available to students from their providers is not held by the department.

[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/student-support-for-higher-education-in-england-2019

[2] https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/advice-and-guidance/regulation/guidance-from-government/