A flat charge on international students, and what it might cost everyone else
The government’s proposed international student levy would place a flat £925 charge per international student per year on universities. This piece argues the money will come out of the things that are easiest to cut — exchange programmes, language provision and outward mobility — which means UK students lose year-abroad places as a second-order effect of a levy aimed at someone else. The year abroad covers how those places work.
The working lives of students who commute and students who do not
Research from Lancashire sets out how paid work fits around study differently for commuters and for those living away — commuters work longer hours, closer to home, and structure their timetable around shifts rather than the reverse. It is the clearest account yet of why attendance figures differ between the two groups, and why the answer is not motivation. Commuter students covers making it work.
How many estranged students and care leavers each university has
The Student Loans Company has published counts of estranged students and care leavers awarded student finance, by university, back to 2017/18. Both groups qualify for support that is rarely advertised — year-round accommodation, bursaries, and assessment on their own income rather than a household one — and the figures show how unevenly they are spread across institutions.