What about fees? Is a full-cost model better?

The Lincoln College Group acknowledges that students applying for a future full-cost model would not be eligible for student finance. Therefore regardless of the fees applicable in this new model and the costs of running the course, the only people who would be eligible for the course would be UK residents with access to private finance to fund their education. We are unsure how this constitutes a workable rescue package, especially when combined with an ineligibility of student visas.

One of the misunderstandings seems to be an understanding of what a student loan provides. In addition to a loan to pay the cost of course fees, it also provides a maintenance loan of £10,544 per year, providing the basic finance to support paying for rent and living costs of being a student. For students at Newark, or anywhere in the higher education sector, the maintenance loan is just as vital to their ability to study as a way of financing their fees. So, even if Lincoln College were able to create a system with lower fees, unless a student had the private finance to support themselves through their student years, the reduced fees would have little impact on the affordability of the course.

The Newark Music Campaign recognises that there are important exceptions to this, and that an ideal workable scenario existed back in 2017, in which some students were able to enrol on a cost-based diploma course running alongside the degree. Some students come to Newark later in life, and some have already had the benefit of student finance for an undergraduate degree, in which case they are ineligible for repeat funding. At the same time, some students come from the local area, including students who have transferred from further education at Newark & Sherwood College. Offering a cost-based funding for local students living at home in Newark whose living costs are accounted for could provide a very positive basis for accessibility and affordable education in a town where musical instrument craft has been at its centre for over fifty years.

In an ideal world we would like to see a cost-based diploma course running alongside the B.A.(Hons) as a way of increasing accessibility to the course. But we do not see this as a viable alternative, but there is a catch to all of this. Although back in 2017 the diploma fees were roughly half of the fees for a degree, i.e. something like £4,000 per year, the college fees policy document shows us that the minimum fee for a higher education course in 2025 would be £8,000 per year, so unless they are going to propose a radical change to their overall policy, that is the cost that students can expect to pay for the unaccredited course. £1,250 saving is helpful but it doesn’t match the promises.

For up to date information on student loans visit the Department For Education Support for Living Costs page here.