Shifting the burden

Universities have become more reliant on tuition fee income.

Universities netted £30.7 billion worth of funding in 2013-14, a 5 per cent rise on the previous year, according to data compiled by the Higher Education Statistics Agency.

Total university income surpassed the £29.4 billion worth of expenditure for the same year, creating an average surplus of 4 per cent. Of the overall income, tuition fees and education contracts contributed £13.7 billion and the funding bodies provided £6.1 billion. As the second year since the introduction of the tuition fees, students’ contributions continued to grow as a proportion of total income, from 35 per cent in 2011-12 to 45 per cent in 2013-14, while grants decreased from 30 per cent to 20 per cent over the same period.