Response to OFFA access agreements

The Office for Fair Access (OFFA) published their latest access agreements today. An access agreement sets out a university or college’s fee limits and the access measures – like outreach or financial support – it intends to put in place.

Commenting, Sir Peter Lampl, Founder and Chairman of the Sutton Trust and Chairman of the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF):

“Our research has found a fall in the proportion of young people intending to go to university.  Many are worried about the financial implications of higher education. With debts of up to £57,000 for poorer graduates and soaring student loan interest rates, access agreements will become even more crucial for improving the number of less advantaged young people at the best universities.

”We also welcome the fact that universities are investing more time and money in their access work and in evaluating it. We are working with OFFA to ensure that on an overall basis access initiatives are cost effective.”

NOTES TO EDITORS

1. The Sutton Trust is a foundation set up in 1997, dedicated to improving social mobility through education. It has published over 200 research studies and funded and evaluated programmes that have helped hundreds of thousands of young people of all ages, from early years through to access to the professions.
2. All access agreements can be found on the OFFA website here.
3. The Sutton Trust runs free, subject-specific residential summer schools for Year 12 students from UK state schools. The summer schools give young people from non-privileged homes the opportunity to experience life at a leading university, gain an insight into living conditions and get a flavour of what their first-year as an undergraduate student will be like. In 2017, there were over 2,000 places available at 12 top universities. Over 20,000 young people have attended a Sutton Trust summer school since 1997.
4. Sutton Scholars aims to support young people in to university by providing early intervention from the age of 11. Each programme lasts for a minimum of two years and allows pupils to find out what university is all about, visit the campus, try out subjects and make well informed decisions to help their future education. The programme runs at five leading universities and enrols 640 new students each year.