After a long gestation period, and at least three governments, we are now seeing details of their plans for a Lifelong Loan Entitlement.
The genesis of this idea comes from the earlier Augar Review into Post 18 Funding and Finance launched in February 2018 and reporting over a year later in May 2019. This was the first time a review looked at both adult further education and higher education holistically.
It is no surprise therefore that the Lifelong Loan Entitlement funds Level 4-6 courses in further education and higher education.
A single system of level 4-6 provision
This is a deliberate part of the design so that learners can move between them.
FE colleges, of course, have offered HE level courses in a FE setting for many years and other HE providers offer courses also seen in FE such as HNDs or Foundation Degrees.
The other part of this proposal is that those wishing to study for three-year bachelor’s degrees can of course still do so, whether 18-21 year-olds – who are likely to study full-time – or older students from 22 to 60.
The Lifelong Loan Entitlement in practice
The proposals so far give a learner up to four years full-time equivalent of tuition fee funding in Higher Education (presently £9,250 per year).
For many this will allow them to undertake a three-year bachelor’s degree and then leave one year spare to undertake reskilling later. Or it may allow a learner to undertake a Foundation Year and then move on to a full degree programme.
Maintenance support has still yet to be determined but is understood to be comparable to what is on offer in March 2023 to undergraduate learners.
The Lifelong Learning (Higher Education Fees Limit) Bill, currently going through Parliament, will enable credit to be funded rather than courses so that learners can also undertake a short course of 30 credits in say, modern foreign languages or coding to help with their career.
Key questions remain, however, on how much grant support the Office for Students will give providers to support high-cost courses like engineering particularly as funding will be available by credit.
A larger entitlement
In an ideal world the Lifelong Loan Entitlement would have created six years of funding eligibility rather than four so as not to run the risk of students using it all in one go and for it to be truly ‘lifelong’ in that sense.
This would enable two full degree courses to be taken over a lifetime (utilising the removal of ELQ restrictions) or a full degree plus Foundation Year and then one year spare for a course later in life.
Of course, government must always bear in mind the financial constraints regarding potentially transformative policies such as the Lifelong Loan Entitlement. But there is an opportunity to be a little bit bolder.
Distancing learning
It is disappointing that support is not being given to distance learning particularly due to its popularity post Covid. Funding constraints are again an important issue, but the Lifelong Loan Entitlement must not exclude a proportion of learners who wish to solely learn online may miss out. Perhaps as the scheme is developed distance learning support could be included.
Implementing a little bit too cautiously
Any government department introducing a transformative policy such as the Lifelong Loan Entitlement will need to implement the policy cautiously. But we really do need adults to be able to access the fee-loans for Level 4-6 through the Lifelong Loan Entitlement sooner rather than later. It will be academic year 27/28 before Level 6 Loans will be available – over three years away from now which is veritable lifetime in policy terms!
We need consensus
So far, the opposition Labour Party has voted with the Government on the Lifelong Learning (Higher Education Fees Limit) Bill which underpins the Lifelong Loan Entitlement.
While the Conservative Government under Rishi Sunak has been very clear about their priorities and while it is great to have cross-party support, it will be interesting to see what emerges in the policy process in the run up to the general election expected in 2024.
For such a radical and transformative proposal to succeed, cross-party support for the Lifelong Loan Entitlement will be essential.
Jonathan Woodhead is the Policy Adviser at Birkbeck, University of London but is writing in a personal capacity.