Oxford Brookes University

Pete Toomer

Pete Toomer is a university student accommodation professional with over 25 years of experience in the UK higher education sector. He holds a BA Hons, PG Cert Housing, and PG Cert Management. Currently serving as Head of the Accommodation Bureau at Oxford Brookes University, Toomer specializes in student accommodation services and operational management.

Over the last 20-plus years, the higher education landscape has shifted significantly from a model where students and universities received government funding, to one where many higher education students must borrow substantial amounts of money to cover tuition and living costs. This leaves them with lifelong debt before embarking on their chosen career path.

As someone who has worked in Higher Education for more than 25 years, I have witnessed massive shifts in expectations from both students and their parents. Attitudes have moved from a culture of "being students" to "being consumers." You might argue that, to some extent, students have always been consumers of education, but the direct cost of higher education is now felt by those footing the bills in a way that has led people to reconsider whether higher education is the right choice—not because of academic ability, but because of the daunting prospect of accruing significant debt. This, in turn, presents a real danger of the UK losing out on the development of potentially brilliant researchers and innovators who are crucial to our national economy. It also suggests that higher education may become more accessible primarily to wealthier families who can afford to financially support their children throughout their higher education.

“Unless significant changes are made to the funding structure of higher education, we may soon witness some institutions facing financial insolvency”

With inadequate loans for student living costs, many struggle to meet basic human needs—food, clothing, and shelter—unless their parents can provide additional financial support. Recent studies show that less than half of UK students receive full student maintenance loans, which barely cover accommodation costs, let alone other basic living expenses. Is this really how little we value the education of our young and aspiring adults?

Commentators are quick to suggest that university is not the only option for entering the professional career ladder, but my own experiences—pre- and post-higher education (albeit back in the ‘90s)—contradict that proposal. I started my degree in my late 30s, having already spent nearly two decades in the workforce trying unsuccessfully to climb the career ladder. It was only after I graduated that career doors opened which had previously remained steadfastly shut.

Alongside financial changes to student funding, we have also seen a reduction in central government funding to universities in an attempt to create a competitive higher education “free market,” which was always destined to create disparity and inequality.

Now, universities are grappling with the increasing cost of living and operating expenses, including accommodation and learning spaces built in the 50s and 60s that are now crumbling and requiring urgent refurbishment or replacement. Meanwhile, tuition fees have been capped by the government for over a decade. This is pushing many universities to the brink of financial viability. Unless significant changes are made to the funding structure of higher education, we may soon witness some institutions facing financial insolvency.

Universities are notoriously poor at openly explaining why costs are what they are, and how they are desperately trying to diversify income streams to mitigate the impacts of capped fees. I sometimes worry that this drive to expand income streams—out of financial necessity—might take precedence over the student experience. This is certainly something I hear often in conversations with colleagues from other institutions.

Perhaps it is time for a joined-up approach to counter the antiuniversity narrative, demonstrating where the money students pay is spent so that the public has a more balanced perspective. Maybe it is also time for the government (regardless of political persuasion) to gain a better understanding of how UK universities shape the economic future in the broadest sense and stop skirting around the increasing decline in the financial sustainability of UK higher education.