From Grants for All to Loans for All: Undergraduate Finance from the Implementation of the Anderson Report (1962) to the Implementation of the Browne Report (2012)

Abstract

The Anderson Report of 1960, which was largely implemented in 1962, recommended mandatory grants for living costs and tuition fees for full-time, first-time UK undergraduate students. The Browne Report of 2010, which was partially implemented in England in 2012, recommended that the majority of costs for maintenance and tuition should be covered by government-backed loans. In the intervening period, higher education was transformed from an elite to a mass sector. This prompted a debate on the benefits of student loans, which led to policy changes under Conservative, Labour and Coalition governments. The article considers the arguments that have been made in favour of loans and recounts half a century of policy-making. It ends with a discussion on the impact of the shift towards loans.