ABSTRACT
The simplest way to increase HE funding would be for the Government to divert existing revenue from other services to HE or to increase its total revenue and direct some of this increase to HE. However, in the introduction to this section the 3 per cent reduction in funding per student in the period 1989/90 to 2001/02 was highlighted and it is unlikely that any Government will have the political will to more than marginally reduce this trend. This major political pressure to control public spending needs to be coupled to the Government’s policy objective of an increase in participation in HE of 18 to 30 year olds of 50 per cent by 2009. The precise definition of ‘participation’ is unclear but the figure necessary to provide this increase, using the current participation profile is £1.9 billion per annum, according to Greenaway and Hayes. They calculate that this growth, together with a return to 1990/91 funding levels per student, would add an extra 3p in the pound on income tax. This option would be unlikely to receive the support of taxpayers, who felt they were not receiving direct benefit from such extra taxes and would probably, therefore, be politically unacceptable.
