Money's not too tight to mention
The financial environment facing education is a tough one. It is clear that tough choices need to be made. Just looking at traditional HE (3 years attendance full-time), as costs rise the Government has a limited range of options. It can restrict access further – something it is already doing. It can push down hard on the costs – again something it is already doing. In Spain they have just cut academics’ salaries, but I do not hear anyone suggesting this for the UK (and it certainly isn’t planned for OCA’s tutors!). Or it can put up fees. Actually putting up fees does not save public money in the short term – so long as the fees are fully covered by loans – all it does is create an accounting effect where more money is lent to students to give to universities and in turn this money appears as a loan on the government’s balance sheet rather than as spending.
Standing outside of the traditional system, the OCA is not immune to the challenges. As a charity without direct government funding, student fees account for some 80% of turnover, with charitable grants and a share of HEFCE (higher Education Funding Council for England) funds (via our accrediting university) making up the balance. The charitable grants must finance specific activities. We are very grateful to the Lankelly Chase Foundation for the work they are enabling us to do to support students in prison. The impact of the funding we have received from the Esmee Fairbairn Foundation to demonstrate what the OCA is all about and to encourage more people to take up the creative arts (even if they do not become one of our students) has been dramatic.
One the hardest challenges for the OCA is how to generate revenue while remaining consistent with our charitable purpose to widen access. At its most basic level, if we cease to exist, we certainly cannot offer courses which people can study from home and have no entry requirements. While there is not likelihood of our demise in the immediate future it is clear that fees have had to rise. We are only too aware of the sad fact that the cost of study is a significant barrier for many students. It is no good us thinking, ‘Well, we are inexpensive relative to the alternative of full-time study”; we know our students and potential students look at a more pressing constraint – quite simply “can I afford to do this?”
Since November 2007 we have increased our fees on one occasion by £15, but we do face a challenge this year, and have taken the opportunity to address the issue by rationalising the fees we charge. A considerable amount of administrative time was tied up in charging for assessment and then discounting the assessment fee from the next course enrolment fee; so we have abolished assessment fees. To try and lessen the barrier of embarking on HE level study of the creative arts, we have very deliberately held the price of our level one courses. The shortfall has been made up by increasing the price of our level two and three courses by £100. (In fact, level two and level three courses are significantly longer than level one courses; and level three courses – which are individually negotiated programmes – are significantly more expensive in tutor time, so it has always been an anomaly that prices have been the same across all levels.)
Overall the price of studying for a degree with us has increased by 7% (the OU has increased its degree prices by 3.1% and its entry level course prices by 4.3%, so we are aware that we are making a significant change). This has not gone unnoticed in the student forums and we are taking a close interest in views expressed there. The full details of our new price structure, which takes effect on 1 July, is on the main OCA site here.
So what has all this to do with the image at the top of this article? It is not just an excuse for me to get a bicycle photograph onto We Are OCA; it is taken from what I think is a fascinating project which will be funded through a truly innovative approach. Bicycle Portraits – everyday South Africans and their bicycles by Stan Engelbrecht and Nic Grobler will be published as a book – provided enough people pledge support in advance. The website Kickstarter is a means by which creative projects can secure funding from those willing to pledge money in advance. Unfortunately it is not yet available to people in the UK seeking funding, but it represents an interesting model.
We need to refresh our Bursary Fund. In the last year we gave out £15,000 in bursaries to support students who could not otherwise access our courses but it is not enough. I will not be satisfied until we are generating as disbursing a much larger figure. The new Culture Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, who I have had the pleasure of working with in the past, has talked about the need to awaken a new philanthropy to support the arts. Whatever you might think of this, he is one politician who lives as he speaks, his own Hotcourses Foundation is funding education in Kenya. Our Trustees will be knocking on doors this year (metaphorically).
11 thoughts on “Money's not too tight to mention”
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Hi Gareth
I work in HE so perhaps have a different perspective to others on how expensive OCA fees are or aren’t! On the whole I don’t think they are that bad, especially as they provide an invaluable opportunity for those of us who are unable to study full time.
However, for me it isn’t just as simple as “can I afford to do this?”, it’s how high the deposit and payments are and how quickly I have pay them. The deposit is a large sum for me to find in one go. I’ve been saving up for a number of months now trying to reach a point where I can enrol on the next level and this change has potentially moved the goalposts again. And at least before I had an opportunity to save up for assessment after I’d made the other payments, so some respite there. I am now literally waiting to see what happens in the budget later this month and what impact it might have before I can be sure that I can go ahead and enrol by the end of June, and before the discount I currently have from Level 1 disappears. Also, if I feel able to pay the deposit, then while 6 months seems a long time to pay the balance, it’s not for someone in my personal circumstances, and of course I cannot commit until I’m absolutely confident I can make the payments.
So no matter how much I totally understand OCA’s rationale, I’m still stuck with the same bottom line and feeling torn. I’m willing to bet I’m not the only person who feels this way, and is frustrated by the imbalance between their desire to move forward with their studies and their practical ability to fund doing so. I hope that posting this at least gives you useful feedback to bear in mind.
Judith
I agree with Judith. The large deposit in particular may mean that I don’t start again this month as I had planned and so lose the discount.
Judith makes a very convincing argument and this is something which is an unintended outcome of the change implementation – I have emailed both of you to see if we can find a way forward.
Gareth
It is more important to me that the OCA remains solvent and that I and others can finish our degrees! It seems reasonable that level 2 and 3 should be more expensive than level 1 given that they are longer and take more time.
Including assessment fees in the initial cost also seems reasonable as it must save in administration and has to be paid anyway.
I can see why administration costs occured because of the assesment fees but having the choice of taking assesment or not was a good one. Even though I want to continue through to degree I understood that a lot of students were taking the courses for fun. Is there not a risk that by allienating these people who may leave because of the added charge for something they do not want the oca will leave the rest of us to make up the potential loss of these people in the future?
Hi Gareth. Thanks again for mentioning our project in your interesting article. We really appreciate your support of the Bicycle Portraits project.
Over $12 500 with 5 days to go – we’re going to make it!
http://www.bicycleportraits.co.za
Stan.
I do feel sorry and worried for the people who just want to learn for their own development without being assessed but do agree that putting the assessment fee onto the cost of the courses makes sense. However the rises put my own courses in danger. People on fixed income like State pension or the disabled don’t get annual rises to compare with the increase in costs. Doing a degree was my way of overcoming my disability and in a sense retraining but I now have to think seriously before continuing.
art2di4 – the bursary scheme is there for cases just like yours, please do not just give up without making an application
Dear Gareth,
“Money’s not too tight to mention”
My apologies for the delay in this response to the above, but I’ve been away from home.
Being a real oldie (84 — and on P.C.) it’s not easy to reconcile the cost of today’s opportunities against a varied background of political views on Education over a lifetime from World War II till now, but the most important thing for me concerning the outlook is to encourage students and potential students not to give up. They must continue the battle in the nicest radical way possible; even after they themselves have succeeded they must give their support to the advancement of the facility for Higher Education, and Education in general, throughout the life-span of individuals. And, indeed, for those who, for one reason or another, are unable to trek the formal pathway, to have some means of recognition of their achieved knowledge, skills and expertise. It is something that is not entirely overlooked today, but one wonders if more could be done.
To the student, I say: “Do not despair, whatever reversals the budget may bring.”
Moreover, It might be something for OCA to set as or combine with bursaries, the reduction in fees awarded to successfully assessed students, to be taken up within a more extended period, and to invite BNU to be partners in this to an agreed extent.
Yours sincerely,
Matthew.
Hi Matthew
Thanks for you comment. We are actively considering how the bursary scheme can be used to better support continuing students
Gareth
I did get a bursary this year and the cost of APEL included but when I enquired about next year, was told to contact Student Finance- a route I don’t want to go down (after experience with my son). However if I did get a bursary for my next course the amount still to pay would have increased and my income wouldn’t have. There’s also the worry that if I get a bursary for one course and things have changed by the second one then all my courses would be wasted as I wouldn’t be able to complete my degree.