Higher education funding and access

Understand this issue

Rethinking the Education Maintenance Allowance: Lessons from a long-term analysis

comment

This evidence should prompt us to look beyond simple financial incentives for classroom attendance.

10 March 2025

Share of apprenticeship budget spent on each apprenticeship level

data item

The proportion of funding directed to higher-level apprenticeships (level 4 and above) has trebled between 2017–18 and 2021–22 from 13% to 39%.

16 January 2025

Why are universities in financial trouble?

podcast

Why are universities struggling, what happens if they go bust and what can government do to help? What other challenges do the HE and FE sectors face?

21 August 2024

Policy analysis

The short- and long-run effects of the Education Maintenance Allowance

report

This report studies the long-run effect of the Education Maintenance Allowance on educational attainment, earnings and crime.

26 February 2025

Scottish school spending, teachers and pupil numbers

report

Scotland’s schools are relatively well funded. Falling pupil rolls and workforce planning represent both challenges and opportunities going forwards. 

14 February 2025

Projecting options for 16–18 education spending per student after 2025, 2009–10 = 1

data item

To maintain spending per student at 2025–26 levels, total funding would need to rise by almost £200 million in today's prices by the end of 2027–28.

16 January 2025

Academic research

The short- and long-run effects of paying disadvantaged teenagers to go to school

working paper

This working paper studies the long-run effect of a cash transfer to disadvantaged students on educational attainment, earnings and crime.

26 February 2025

Vog: using volcanic eruptions to estimate the impact of air pollution on student test scores

working paper

We demonstrate that poor air quality disproportionately impacts the human capital accumulation of economically disadvantaged children.

20 February 2025

Changes in marital sorting: theory and evidence from the US

working paper

Measuring how assortative matching differs between two economies is difficult, we show how the use of different measures can create different outcomes

27 November 2024