The impact of higher fees on psychology students’ reasons for attending university

Abstract

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“…This suggests that students are now not necessarily choosing degree subjects based on interest and are instead thinking about their career path as a focus. This is in line with findings highlighting the career-related motivations of students, particularly those paying higher fees [41], and their expectations regarding graduate employment [4].…”

“…This appears to support previous findings that the increased tuition fees has had little detriment on students' expectations of their HE experiences [4], rather the increased fees is increasing personal responsibility for learning, expecting more of themselves rather than of academic staff. It suggests a change in the way students are approaching their studying and a change in their motivations [41], whilst on the surface this would not necessarily have a negative impact on staff it depends on the way in which students believe staff should facilitate this.…”

A snapshot of the student experience: exploring student satisfaction through the use of photographic elicitation

“…This notion is likely to be exacerbated further with the introduction of the proposed Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF; Department for Business Innovation and Skills 2016) in UK HEIs. Whilst some research has found minimal support for the idea students are more demanding Kaye 2014a, 2014b;Kaye and Bates 2017), there is increased competition for HEIs to attract students (Jurkowitsch, Vignali and Kaufmann 2006). Thus, performance on the NSS, which is made publicly available, is considered a key metric to which HEIs are held accountable when providing a "service" to an ever-increasing 1 Tuition fees in England were first introduced in September 1998, and after numerous incremental increases across the years, finally reached a premium in September 2012 whereby institutions were able to charge up to £9000 a year.…”

‘Career and Money Aside, What's the Point of University?’ A Comparison of Students’ Non‐economic Entry Motives in Three European Countries

“…Though many aspects of student life are routine research topics, studies exploring students’ reasons for entering higher education appear fewer in number (Round, , p. 9; Kennett et al ., , p. 65). This is somewhat surprising, because as Kaye and Bates () argue, ‘examining the main reasons for students attending higher education […] is one useful way of gaining insight into the decision‐making of students in their considerations of attending university’. This paper therefore aims to investigate motives for university enrolment, and takes as its focus students’ non‐economic reasons —i.e.…”

“…Though many aspects of student life are routine research topics, studies exploring students' reasons for entering higher education appear fewer in number (Round, 2005, p. 9;Kennett et al, 2011, p. 65). This is somewhat surprising, because as Kaye and Bates (2016) argue, 'examining the main reasons for students attending higher education [. .…”