Page 221 of the Department for Education’s 2019/20 financial statement contains the note reproduced above.
The sale programme for “pre-2012” student loans was cancelled in March. But DfE looks like it will be paying out over £30million per year for the next few years to financiers anyway. Total liabilities are booked above at over £220million.
Given the relative absence of higher education from yesterday’s Autumn Statement, I turned my attention to the Department for Education’s 2019/20 annual accounts, which were published earlier this month.
Regarding student loans, we have been in something of a hiatus since 2018, when Theresa May announced an review of post-18 funding and commissioned the Augar panel, which reported last summer. Although there were suggestions that we might get a long overdue response to the latter yesterday, we will probably have to wait now until the Budget next March, when the government will hope to have a better sense of its spending commitments.
That leaves student loan finance in limbo with the small, nominal budget allocation for loan write-offs shored up by large “Supplementary Estimates” provided by parliament each February.
This is in spite of an apparent “target RAB” of 36% and a budgeting process hanging over from 2014, when the old department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) had responsibility for loans and was being “incentivised” to reduce the cost of the loan scheme. You can see both of these features still stipulated in the latest Consolidated Budgeting Guidance, but they represent zombie policy with little to no bearing on events.
Why so? Well, DfE was given an extra £12billion plus back in February to supplement 2019/20’s budget for “non-cash RDEL” (mostly student loan “impairments”) of £4.7billion per year. (Student loans are “impaired” because the loans are worth less in estimated repayments than the cash advanced.) The supplement produces a total that is more than triple the original allocation.
And… DfE managed to spend nearly £16billion of that last year. The accounts report an “underspend” of £1.1bn against that total.
As can be seen from the table below, “Fair Value movement” for student loans amounted to a non-cash cost of over £14billion.
£17.6billion of new loans were issued, a net increase of £15billion once repayments of over £2billion are considered, but the new impairments on post-2012 loans increased by £12.3billion; for “pre-2012” loans the stock remaining at year-end lost nearly £1.7bn when revalued.
Although the nominal value (“face value”) of outstanding post-2012 loan balances is nearly £105billion, those loans are thought to be worth less than £50bn.
The increases in impairments break down into a RAB charge and a stock charge.
The RAB charge is the estimated impairment on new loans issued. That came to nearly £9billion, reflecting the latest understanding that only 47% of the £17billion+ of annual undergraduate loan outlay is now expected to be repaid in net present value terms. Ie, the RAB charge is 53%, well above the official target of 36%.
The other £7billion was a write down on loans issued in previous years and is based on changes made to the model used to estimate loan repayments. Only £2.1billion of that downwards revaluation is attributable to Covid (the loans were revalued in July).
The accounts make available a further breakdown of the modelling changes.
The implications seem clear: HE is due a day of reckoning. From a financial perspective, the strongest measures would control outlay rather than boosting repayments. In cash terms, the former has immediate impact on finances, whereas the latter spreads the effect over decades and is politically difficult at this time.
Tuition fees are to be frozen again in 2021/22 and we should expect this to continue. Announcements in FE suggest that the government would also like students to switch away from longer, more expensive HE courses. More radically, I would expect the government to be reviewing the Augar suggestions of tuition fee reductions and caps on places for certain courses (Recommendation 3.7).1
Back at the Conservative Party Conference, Rishi Sunak warned of “hard choices” to come and promised to “balance the books”:
“Over the medium term getting our borrowing and debt back under control. We have a sacred responsibility to future generations to leave the public finances strong, and through careful management of our economy, this Conservative government will always balance the books. If instead we argue there is no limit on what we can spend, that we can simply borrow our way out of any hole, what is the point in us?”
That final question invites some alternative answers, but the Spending Review’s focus on Further Education reinforces the idea that HE will be the required to balance the increased spending on the former.
1 “We therefore invite the government to consider the case for encouraging the OfS to stipulate in exceptional circumstances a limit to the numbers an HEI could enrol on a specific course, or group of courses. It would be critical for the OfS to be transparent about the grounds and process for such an intervention and we can offer no more than a broad indication of what these circumstances might be. Where there is persistent evidence of poor value for students in terms of employment and earnings and for the public in terms of loan repayments, the OfS would have the regulatory authority to place a limit, for a fixed period, on the numbers eligible for financial support who could be admitted to the course. The institution in question would remain free to recruit to all other courses without restriction. Such a cap system would clearly target the institutions that are offering poor value, rather than altering the entry criteria for individual students.”
p. 102, Independent Panel Report to the Review of post-18 Education & Funding
In Fall 2019, I was truly fortunate to receive a grant from the Hogg Foundation to promote the 2020 Census in East Texas. Yes, this area includes my hometown county – Panola County, then Rusk County and Shelby County. This was an AMAZING project! Thanks Hogg Foundation!
The North East Texas Counts campaign had three goals for the project. Goal one was “to select and train 200 NETX Counts Ambassadors and Junior Ambassadors to tell the importance of the census to the community”. Goal two was “to engage and educate at least 3,000 residents in the tri-county community (especially hard-to-count populations) about the importance of the census”. The final goal, goal three” was “to saturate the tri-county community media outlets with Census information pertinent to their residents”. Through this campaign, we hosted 25 outdoor Census booths, eight interactive community information sessions, an engaging social media campaign, and received coverage in almost 10 newspapers and television outlets.
The North East Texas Counts began the Census season by communicating with key contacts in the community and scheduling large-scale events to educate the community about the Census. We scheduled events at the local community college, library, etc. After the three counties restricted large scale and in-person events, we decided to develop a more robust online training and development process for our interns and volunteers.
We offered numerous outdoor Census education table sessions. However, instead of offering these sessions outside large big-box retailers in the country, we offered these sessions in formats more focused on common pain points experienced by residents of the three counties and safety protocols of the counties. Instead of shopping at big-box retailers, the residents were more focused on shopping in smaller retailers, visiting gas stations, and visiting the post office. As a result, our strategy changed. During this process, we coined the phrase, “from gas stations to grocery stores”, because these were the essential places visited by residents during the pandemic. During this process, we offered information booths outside of gas stations, libraries in each county, Tractor Supply stores, city council areas, and on the side of the major highways. These strategies proved to be very effective because many residents indicated they have not taken the Census before and they did not know the importance of the Census. We were able to provide support for these residents through interactive in-person, on-one-one programming focused on the Census.
Community Communication
The North East Texas Counts team began the Census season by communicating with key contacts in the community and scheduling large-scale events to educate the community about the Census. We scheduled events at the local community college, library, etc. After the three counties restricted large scale and in-person events, we decided to develop a more robust online training and development process for our interns and volunteers.
We offered three pop-up Census education table sessions outside large big-box retailers in the country. During these sessions, participants received USB chargers, Census t-shirts, and USB wall plugs. These technology and apparel items were essential items during the pandemic, because individuals in these areas usually have to travel to larger cities for technology items. People saw our items as they drove on the highways and many turned around to hear about the Census and to receive the items. Many residents commented that they have seen several Census shirts around their town and they wanted to learn more. We did not have any Census t-shirts left after September 30, 2020.
North East Texas Counts Census – Coverage
This project was one of the TOP projects of my faculty career. It truly changed my life and impacted the way that I see local, state, and federal government. This project ENERGIZED me!
Stay tuned!
Executive Director of the Texas Social Media Research Institute & Rural Communication Institute
I really like using Google Trends for almost EVERYTHING! I use Google Trends for creating news articles, blog posts, course syllabi, and even when designing graphics!
Here’s a video that I created about Google Trends – an amazing FREE technology!
Exploring Google Trends is one of the best ways to discover social media topics and ideas for posts. Here’s a quick video focused on how to use Google Trends for Content Generation.
Check it out! You can use Google Trends for everything from education to community engagement. Also, these are great for governmental outreach and engagement as well (depending on the search terms within your community).
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Try this campaign! Also, there are more campaigns available in my book – Retaining College Students Using Technology: A Guidebook for Student Affairs and Academic Affairs Professionals.
Remember to order copies for your team as well!
Thanks for visiting!
Sincerely,
Dr. Jennifer T. Edwards
Higher Education Speaker and Researcher
My Social Media Channels!
Remember to Follow Me on Twitter! @drjtedwards
I Always Post Higher Education Videos on YouTube
Find Me on Instagram
Engage with Me on Facebook!
Watch My Videos on Twitter Live – http://www.periscope.com/drjtedwards/
Email Me! I am PR Friendly! – [email protected]
Research is VERY important for our students! Each of my classes has a research assignment focused on the library. They are paying for it, they should use it. At least this is what I believe. 🙂
I always make a training video for our students about the library’s databases. Here’s this year’s video!
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Check out my book – Retaining College Students Using Technology: A Guidebook for Student Affairs and Academic Affairs Professionals.
Remember to order copies for your team as well!
Thanks for visiting!
Sincerely,
Dr. Jennifer T. Edwards
Professor of Communication
Executive Director of the Texas Social Media Research Institute & Rural Communication Institute
Over the summer, I always think about how the fall courses will be better. I always strive to make my courses at least 5% better than the courses the semester before. Course evaluations are important and I want to make sure the students have a great experience, but I also want to have a great experience teaching in the course as well.
This means that I write down ideas as I read blog posts, listen to videos, and also as I listen to local/regional/and national news. So, I get EXCITED to introduce myself to a new group of students!
This year, I decided to pre-record TWO videos introducing myself to the students. Here’s the video (Part 2/2) that I plan to send the students in the fall semester. This videos is based on the questions that I requested from via an email survey in the summer.
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Check out my book – Retaining College Students Using Technology: A Guidebook for Student Affairs and Academic Affairs Professionals.
Remember to order copies for your team as well!
Thanks for visiting!
Sincerely,
Dr. Jennifer T. Edwards
Professor of Communication
Executive Director of the Texas Social Media Research Institute & Rural Communication Institute
Over the summer, I always think about how the fall courses will be better. I always strive to make my courses at least 5% better than the courses the semester before. Course evaluations are important and I want to make sure the students have a great experience, but I also want to have a great experience teaching in the course as well.
This means that I write down ideas as I read blog posts, listen to videos, and also as I listen to local/regional/and national news. So, I get EXCITED to introduce myself to a new group of students!
This year, I decided to pre-record TWO videos introducing myself to the students. Here’s the video (Part 1/2) that I plan to send the students in the fall semester. This videos is based on the questions that I requested from via an email survey in the summer.
***
Check out my book – Retaining College Students Using Technology: A Guidebook for Student Affairs and Academic Affairs Professionals.
Remember to order copies for your team as well!
Thanks for visiting!
Sincerely,
Dr. Jennifer T. Edwards
Professor of Communication
Executive Director of the Texas Social Media Research Institute & Rural Communication Institute
When students arrive in college, faculty often make the assumption that they know how to read for comprehension and retention. Unfortunately, and for a variety of reasons, many students are not well versed in how to read for class. In today post, I want to share an excerpt from my book, Teaching for Learning, about how you can use SQ3R to help college students read.
The SQ3R activity provides a framework for students to better comprehend and retain information from readings assigned for class. Students often read course readings as they would any other text: start at page 1 and read to the end without framing the content, thinking critically about the content, and engaging the content. This IDEA offers a more systematic approach to better study the material while reading (Artis, 2008).
SQ3R is a five-step process: survey, question, read, recite, and review. The activity helps students engage with material and improve their processing of the information through framing and reflection. Although the use of these five steps take longer than simply reading a text, the advantages of improved understanding and recall are beneficial for students and they improve the teaching experience.
SQ3R is built on the foundation of an information processing theory of learning (Newell & Simon, 1972; Tadlock, 1978). This theory suggests that people structure and organize information into systems of meaning. The limitations of learning are frequently attributed to limits on the ability to organize information and by encoding information in a way that facilitates recall. By providing a framework to organize new knowledge, SQ3R helps students develop understanding faster and more efficiently.
The activity also makes use of the ways the brain stores and retrieves information using short and long-term recall. The framework of SQ3R encourages students to slow down and spend time on information which activates the processing strengths of particularly long-term memory. By asking questions and encouraging recitation, SQ3R allows students to better store and recall information from course readings.
Most frequently, the SQ3R activity is completed by the student outside of class as part of assigned readings. Prior to assigning SQ3R, provide the framework for students and also explain why the activity proves useful. Students often complain that this process increases the time it takes to complete the reading and in doing so they often fail to see the value. Providing an understanding of why it works based on the guiding principles above can help students know the value and use the activity (Tadlock, 1978).
Many students have never been taught how to read texts or study content rich material. This activity presents a great strategy to help students by providing a versatile framework to use while reading. Many instructors find it helpful to walk students through how to complete the steps in class. Taking the time to model the process in class can improve students’ use of the activity and improve their reading comprehension as a result.
There are many different variations that have grown out of SQ3R such as, SQ4R (survey, question, read, recite, wRite, and review) (Pauk, 1984), PQ4R (preview, question, read, reflect, recite, and review), and FAIRER (facts, ask questions, identify major/minor details, read, evaluate comprehension, and review) (Lei, Rhinehart, Howard, & Cho, 2010). Fundamentally, these all provide frameworks for self-regulation of reading. You can use any variation of this system, as the goal is to provide a way for students to work through a framework to organize and comprehend new information.
One of the more difficult, yet important, aspects of the SQ3R activity is developing good questions. Students often can easily turn headings and other readily identifiable major points into questions, but struggle with developing good topic spanning questions. As part of other class activities and in debriefing this activity, help students develop good questions. You may do this by sharing good questions raised by classmates or by providing some starter questions early in the course you identified. Helping students learn to ask questions can assist students in your class and throughout their education.
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Just a quick life update. We’re moving back to the United States in April. It’s been a big decision for sure as we’ve made a lot of great friends during our time in the UK and it’s a fantastic place to live. However, with family being mostly located in the States and a little one who loves his grandparents, it makes the best sense for us at this time to make the big move back across the pond.
That said, I’ll be booking speaking/consulting engagements with conferences, universities/colleges, and companies starting up in May.
My current topics for digital engagement presentations, sessions, and/or keynotes: using social media to enhance the student experience, leadership, career development, research impact, organizational change and for teaching/learning.
For more info on my work, please check out my bio/testimonials page as well as a list of my previous clients.
When I was a college student, there were times when I skipped out on buying a required textbook for a course. Finances were always tight, so I tried to balance my checkbook with buying actual books. Even then, textbooks weren’t cheap. Today, students are paying more and more for their higher education experience. If a university can find ways to make attending college more affordable, accessible, and “high-tech/high-touchâ€, well, it’s not really an option, it’s a necessity.
Today’s technology makes it easy to distill course materials into digital formats and enhances them as a result. Colleges and universities are quickly shifting from books to bytes to improve the student experience and boost course outcomes.
Here are 10 reasons why your university should go digital with its course materials:
What would you add to this list?
Digital course materials are not the future for higher education; they’re the present. It’s only a matter of time before your institution goes digital for student success.
This post was sponsored by Pearson as part of a higher education influencers collaboration.
