When Brooklyn goes to college

By Mike Baker
BBC education correspondent

As the government prepares to do battle on changes to university funding, BBC education correspondent Mike Baker gazes into his crystal ball and looks at how England's system might work in future.

It is the year 2020.

Sixty per cent of the children who started nursery school way back in 2004 are heading off, by solar-powered monorail, to university.

In fact, fewer than one-third are travelling anywhere, as most will be taking their degree either at their local university or by internet-based distance-learning.

Let's take Brooklyn (for some reason a very popular name amongst today's generation of students).

Pricey

He has put together his portfolio of funding and has assessed the price and quality of the various universities which have offered him a place.

He is a very bright young man and has achieved top grades in the Advanced "Tomlinson" Diploma (named after Mike Tomlinson, the man who invented the new examination system phased into schools from 2007).

Brooklyn's broad range of final-year school studies - he took six subjects - meant he could apply for almost any university course: sciences, arts or humanities.

He has also achieved high marks in his Test (The Entrance Selection Test), which was introduced after publication of the Schwartz Review of University Admissions in the summer of 2004.

After consulting the Which Buyers' Guide to Universities, he has boiled his choices down to their recommended "best budget buy" and their "top-quality but pricey" purchase.

The former - a chance to study Virtual Reality Gaming Design at Nationwide University - would cost him £5,000 a year.

University, here we come

The university wants to charge higher fees for this popular course but is still bound by the maximum permitted by the House of Commons which, since 2011, has proved reluctant to raise them by much more than inflation.

But, like many universities still struggling to balance the books, Nationwide is now offering two cost-cutting offers.

Brooklyn could follow the "accelerated course", with a 48-week academic year. This offers a degree after just two years' study, thus saving £5,000 on the standard three-year version.

Or he could opt for the "internet-based, distance-learning degree", where he can attend lectures "virtually" and communicate with his tutors and fellow students by e-mail and chatroom. This version will cost just £3,000 a year, over either two or three years.

The "top-quality but pricey" choice is at Premiership University, where he has been offered a place to read physics for £8,000 a year, but with no "three-for-two" offers or distance-learning options.

So Brooklyn's degree could cost him anything between £10,000 and £24,000, depending on his course, university and mode of learning.

Mum works part-time

But he cannot yet minimise the spreadsheet on his wrist-watch-cum-personal organiser. There are some other financial calculations to take into account.

Brooklyn's family is not well off. His father is retired and his mother is a part-time singer. Their income means he is eligible for the maximum government grant - equal to the cost of the fees - which would help pay his living costs.

If he takes the virtual-reality gaming-design course at Nationwide, there is no additional grant on offer. In effect, the cost of that degree would be his living costs, for which he gets help with a student loan.

By contrast, if he takes the place at Premiership, he gets the government grant (covering 75% of the cost of the fees), plus a Premiership University bursary worth £6,000 a year and an Institute of Physics bursary of £2,000 a year.

In total he would be eligible for grants of £14,000 a year compared to the £5,000 at Nationwide. At first this seems to clinch Premiership as his choice.

But then he calculates that, on the three-year options, he would graduate from Nationwide owing £15,000 to the "graduate-tax scheme" (as they re-named it in 2009) but if he went to Premiership he would owe £24,000.

The higher grant and bursary would still leave him a net gainer if he went to Premiership. But then another thought struck: what sort of job would he get afterwards?

He knew computer games manufacturers were desperate for top-quality designers and were offering graduate "golden hellos" which effectively wiped out all student debt.

Crossing the Pond

By contrasts, a Premiership physics degree might lead to an academic career or a job in science research. These offered no "golden hellos", although he could get his graduate tax liability wiped clean if he offered to join that select few teaching physics in secondary schools.

Unable to make a decision, Brooklyn was about to consult his accountant and financial adviser when his attention was caught by a new e-mail in his inbox.

It was from Megabucks University in the USA. It was offering him a scholarship with all fees paid and a living costs grant, worth $60,000 a year in total.

The package included complimentary membership of the university golf club, free secretarial support, use of a university car, and (subject to achieving a first-class degree) first refusal on a research fellowship.

He went to find his passport.

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