24 Jan 08

Rachael Featherstone, who studies Maths at New College, is among the first Oxford Opportunity Bursary recipients

The Office for Fair Access (OFFA) has published its report on the first year of the new fee regime introduced in 2006 which allowed universities to charge up to GBP 3,000 for their courses.

It shows that on average, higher education institutions spent a quarter of their additional fee income on supporting students and on additional outreach work.

In contrast, Oxford University spent more than a third (35.2 per cent) of its net additional income from tuition fees in 2006/7 on student bursaries, totalling £1,867,000. This meant that more than one in five new students, a total of nearly 700, received an award under this scheme, which is one of the most generous bursary schemes in the country.

Rachael Featherstone, who started her course in Mathematics at New College in 2006, is one of them. She said: ‘I looked into the financial side of university quite a bit. Because my mum is a part-time primary school teacher I knew I needed some assistance and I found out about the Oxford Opportunity Bursary. It has meant that I have been able to come here without any financial worry. I found Oxford just as cheap as any other university I could have gone to study at.

‘The environment in which I study, the way in which you have the tutorial system, and the support you get from that one-on-one teaching is outstanding. I wouldn’t change it for the world.’

Oxford University’s total expenditure on outreach and widening participation activities per year is £1.8 million. This is on top of the 1.867 million spent on bursaries.