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Does the Fear of Debt Deter Students from Higher Education?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 October 2005

CLAIRE CALLENDER
Affiliation:
Professor of Social Policy at London South Bank University, 103 Borough Road, London SE1 0AA Tel: + 44 207 815 5729 email: callencs@lsbu.ac.uk.
JONATHAN JACKSON
Affiliation:
Lecturer in Research Methodology in the Methodology Institute, London School of Economics.

Abstract

Concerns over the impact of debt on participation in higher education (HE) have dominated much of the debate surrounding the most recent reforms of financial support for full-time students in England, including the introduction of variable tuition fees. Yet few studies have attempted to explore this issue in a statistically robust manner. This article attempts to fill that gap. It examines the relationship between prospective HE students' attitudes to debt, and their decisions about whether or not to enter HE. Using data derived from a survey of just under 2,000 prospective students, it shows how those from low social classes are more debt averse than those from other social classes, and are far more likely to be deterred from going to university because of their fear of debt, even after controlling for a wide range of other factors. The article concludes that these findings pose a serious policy dilemma for the Westminster government. Their student funding policies are predicated on the accumulation of debt and thus are in danger of deterring the very students at the heart of their widening participation policies.

Type
Article
Copyright
2005 Cambridge University Press

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