Cash, laptops and free sports club memberships: Just some of the 'bribes' offered by universities as they struggle to attract students due to fees hike

In a bid to attract the brightest students with top grades, universities across the UK are offering thousands of pounds in cash, laptops and even free sports club memberships.

The cap on the number of undergraduates with at least two A grades and a B that universities can recruit from 2012 has been removed by the government - creating the incentives war.

Universities are consequently trying to lure in higher numbers of top students when fees rise to a maximum of £9,000.

Scholarships: The University of Birmingham (pictured) is offering £5,000 'scholarships' for top students

Research has found that a minimum of 60 English universities with middle and lower rankings in the Sunday Times league table are offering the financial incentives.

The University of Birmingham, which will charge £9,000 tuition fees next year, is offering £5,000 ‘scholarships’ for top students entering maths, chemistry and computer science courses.

After winning placements in the specific course, admission tutors will decide which candidates will receive the ‘scholarships’, depending on their academic performance.

Newcastle’s school of electrical, electronic and computer engineering is offering £2,000 per year and a laptop to students who gain places with at least two As and a B in their A-levels, according the the research by The Sunday Times.

Kent is offering £2,000 each year for applicants with at least three A grades at A-level, while Sheffield Hallam will pay £1,000 to those with at least AAB at A-level.

Incentives to apply: Brunel, in west London, (pictured) will slash £3,000 off their students' £9,000 fees for anyone with three As at A-level

Brunel, in west London, will slash £3,000 off their students’ £9,000 fees for anyone with three As at A-level.

While Surrey university is offering applicants with two A grades and an A* £3,000 and a free membership at Surrey Sports Park health and fitness centre.

Director of the Higher Education Policy Institute, Bahram Bekhradnia, told the newspaper: ‘Outside the top 10 or 15, universities are going to be vulnerable to losing students to those above them or to those below who offer incentives that work.’

But as universities minister David Willetts was positive about the competitions between institutions, the chief executive of Universities UK, Nicola Dandridge didn’t welcome the incentives.

She told the newspaper: ‘Social mobility is an issue her. Currerntly, only around 75 per cent of AAB-plus students come from state schools, compared with around 93 per cent of other studetns.’

Row continues: Universities are lowering fees but will take on more students to pay for it, which is unlikely to please those who protested last year

Meanwhile, one English university in five is to slash tuition fees to below £7,500.

A total of 24 have had plans to lower fee levels approved by the Office for Fair Access.

They agreed to lower their fees in return for a guarantee that they will be able to take on extra students.

The move comes just weeks before the application deadline for 2012, and means thousands who have applied for places at the universities could find their fees have changed.

But the National Union of Students raised concerns that the Government’s attempts to get universities to keep average fees below £7,500 will not benefit students or graduates on lower incomes.

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This is because many of the universities have reduced the amount they spend on bursaries for poorer students to pay for the fee decrease.

Instead of bursaries, which give poor students money in their pocket now, many are introducing ‘fee waivers’, which reduce the amount of money a university asks a student to borrow to cover the cost of their tuition fee. 

‘Fee waivers are a con trick that will only benefit graduates who are earning enough to pay off their student loans within 30 years,’ said Mr Burns.

‘They help the Treasury, who have to spend less on loans, but are of no benefit to students whatsoever. The Government’s “access czar” Simon Hughes himself said that students should be able to choose bursaries over fee waivers. 

‘The perverse incentives of the Government’s changes mean that poorer pupils are encouraged towards courses and universities that have less funding – a complete reverse of the “pupil premium” that Nick Clegg has championed for younger learners.’

Sally Hunt, general secretary of the University and College Union, said: ‘In the main, universities that have cut their fees have also had to slash the bursaries they can offer potential students.

‘So while students may be attracted to a cheaper course, they will probably receive less financial support when they are at university.

Fallout: The increased fees - which sparked violent protests in London last year - have led to a sharp drop in applications

‘The fact that students who have already applied have just a month to make such important decisions exposes the utter shambles of the Government’s higher education policy.

‘We now have a situation where people have to work out if they can afford to study certain courses, rather than follow their dreams.’

Plans to triple fees to a maximum of £9,000 were approved by MPs in December 2010.

Universities planning to charge more than £6,000 had to submit ‘access agreements’ to Offa setting out how they planned to support students and ensure those from poorer homes were not priced out.

‘In the main, universities that have cut their fees have also had to slash the bursaries they can offer potential students.So while students may be attracted to a cheaper course, they will probably receive less financial support when they are at university
- SALLY HUNT, UNIVERSITY AND COLLEGE UNION 

But in a White Paper published this summer, after institutions had submitted their agreements, ministers announced that universities that charged average fees of £7,500 or lower would be able to bid for a share of 20,000 so-called ‘core and margin’ places.

The decision was widely seen as an attempt by ministers to keep fees low after it emerged that many universities would charge at, or close to, the maximum £9,000.

To qualify for the places, universities had to have average fees of £7,500 or less after fee waivers had been taken into account.

Offa yesterday confirmed the names of the 24 universities, all of which are newer institutions, and one college that have reduced their overall fee levels. 

Director of Fair Access Sir Martin Harris said: ‘As we expected, some institutions have chosen to move money out of bursaries and into fee waivers, so enabling them to reduce their net average fee.

‘Importantly, there has been no net reduction in the overall financial support for any student. However, bursaries and fee waivers are not the same thing. 

‘Bursaries are money in a student’s pocket now, whereas fee waivers reduce a loan that some students may not need to repay in full.

‘We don’t yet know which will prove more effective in terms of supporting and protecting access and retention.’