Cashback skewing proper choice via UCAS system

2sides2everystory

I have written about my recent discovery that some universities expect to be so awash with new cash next year after charging £3,000 a year that they have started using it for pure marketing purposes.

I have just made a new discovery - make us your first choice and if you get the grades we will give you £3,000 taxfree cashback when you come to us, and again another £3,000 pa if you maintain high grades in second and third years. Don't make us your first choice ? No cashback.

How do you expect a 17 year old to make a proper decision when all universities on the shortlist charge £9,000 a year, but the also rans in terms of perceived quality of the course offer cashback on these terms, and the "best" university does not?

Which university will be the first choice?

How low can HE sink in the UK ?

Oldernotwiser

Unlike in our day, universities are no longer listed in preference order on the UCAS form so it wouldn't work like that.

I think that you're confusing it with the Excellence Scholarship scheme that offers a bonus when you accept a place as your firm offer. If that's the case, it would work very differently from what you're describing.

If you've seen anything different, a link would be useful.

kayr_2

My son came across something like this this last year when applying. Not £3000 though - usually £1000, and linked to getting straight As. You only got it if you made the university your firm choice, though I think Manchester gave it for A grades even if they were the insurance choice. His firm choice offered bursaries (means tested) which he was not eligible for. He chose them because they offered a better course. Money isn't everything.

The_One_Who

These things have been around for a while now. Choosing the university as your first choice (or firm as it's now called) makes it a lot easier on their end.

Students makes their own decisions on how to choose their best university.

2sides2everystory

The_One_Who wrote: »

These things have been around for a while now.

What things? £3,000pa Cashback against the 2012 scheme? I think not. 5 minutes perhaps.

Students makes their own decisions on how to choose their best university.

Exactly, and they are being skewed for 17 year olds who think £3,000 pa cash straight into their pocket is the best reason to make an also ran university their "firm" choice and the best university not, i.e. a wasted choice and wasted life opportunity for three thousand measly quid a year, simply because they barely have any concept of what three thousand quid is.

As I said, how low will those in Higher Education stoop ? At the moment I rate you no higher than bankers with this kind of marketing.

The_One_Who

2sides2everystory wrote: »

What things? £3,000pa Cashback against the 2012 scheme? I think not. 5 minutes perhaps.

Universities (not all of them though) have been offering bursaries to students for years. Often it was £1000, and it might only have been in the first year, but I'm sure it managed to attract some students.

Exactly, and they are being skewed for 17 year olds who think £3,000 pa cash straight into their pocket is the best reason to make an also ran university their "firm" choice and the best university not, i.e. a wasted choice and wasted life opportunity for three thousand measly quid a year, simply because they barely have any concept of what three thousand quid is.

What on Earth is an "also ran" university?

Define the "best" university?

We all make our own choices, and someone who thinks they are mature enough to be going to university should be mature enough to think about their decisions and the consequences of them.

2sides2everystory

So £1,000 here and there which has become an explosion of £3,000 offers issued on glossy bits of paper thrust into the hands of everyone on open day is no big deal eh?

You define best university, TOW. You are the HE expert and the mature one with all the answers it seems, save for knowing what an also ran might mean.

You people are enough to make grown men weep.

The_One_Who

2sides2everystory wrote: »

So £1,000 here and there which has become an explosion of £3,000 offers issued on glossy bits of paper thrust into the hands of everyone on open day is no big deal eh?

Well, when fees were £3,000 a £1,000 bursary was quite a lot.

You define best university, TOW. You are the HE expert and the mature one with all the answers it seems, save for knowing what an also ran might me.

My definition of an "also ran" doesn't really apply in this case. For example, to say that Oxford is the best and Durham is an "also ran" (ie, no competition) doesn't make sense. There will be no one in this country who is choosing between Oxford and, say, UWS. Unless you using it in a different context?

There is no definition of the best university, that's why I'm asking you to define yours. Since you are the one who continues to use the phrase. The best will be different for every single person. Every league table also gives you a different answer, so we can't even use them for an arbitrary list.

tom717

All universities have to give out a certain amount of scholarships/bursaries. These are usually only to people who put the uni down as their firm choice. It is nothing new.

In fact, when I started my university offered a £3000 bursary to students that got 3 As. That has declined each year since, presumably because more and more people are getting As and I think last year it actually stood at less than £1000.

tom717

I just checked the prospectus from the year I started and actually it was £5000 a year if your household income was less than £17500 or £1000 a year if over.

2sides2everystory

These 2012 cashbacks that have emerged very recently to coincide with the open day season are not means tested Tom.

I see your confusion with my use of "also ran" TOW. In horse-racing 1st 2nd and 3rd and sometimes 4th actually means something to committed punters with their each way tendencies.

With UCAS "firm" choice made you are gambling for a win only which means that if you make the "best" university your firm choice in any rational understanding of which university is best for you, then your other applications will be "also ran" applications and probably treated as 'non-serious/non-committed' by the universities themselves in a number of ways for a number of reasons including:

(a) because they will have been less disposed to make you a decent offer if you hadn't made them the firm choice

and/or depending whether your choice of "best" has been skewed by cashback

(b) because the ones offering cashback are the ones which otherwise might have been listed 2 or 3 in old money but are withholding cashback opportunities unless you make them your "firm" choice.