Incoming changes to England¡¯s student loan system will mean providers can charge more for accelerated degrees, but funding cuts are making it harder for some institutions to offer them.

Under the Lifelong Learning Entitlement (LLE), an?overhaul of the student finance system set to come in from 2027, tuition fee limits will relate to the?number of credits in a course, rather than the time spent studying.

Currently, students on accelerated undergraduate degree courses ¨C which typically take two years to complete instead of three ¨C can access up to ?11,440 in tuition fee loans per year.

This is also the maximum fee that registered providers are allowed to charge per year, meaning they receive less total revenue than they would from a standard degree course.?

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Institutions that are not fee cap-registered, such as the University of Buckingham ¨C a private provider that primarily offers two-year degrees ¨C can charge more, but the loan amount students can access is even lower.

Although?students will have to pay more under the incoming LLE, which will bring fees for accelerated degrees in line with those for standard degrees, advocates suggest that the former?is still a more affordable option.

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¡°In the overall picture, they cost students less because they do it quicker and therefore they pay less of everything else ¨C accommodation and so on ¨C and they get into the workforce [sooner] but not many institutions do the accelerated degrees in a big way,¡± said Harriet Dunbar-Morris, pro vice-chancellor academic and provost at the University of Buckingham.?

It also remains unclear whether students at non-fee-capped institutions, such as Buckingham, will be able to access higher loans under the LLE.?

University leaders have?previously spoken about growing demand?for faster degrees, particularly from older and non-traditional students.

David Phoenix, the new vice-chancellor of The Open University, told THE last month that his university was seeing increasing interest from students wanting to study ¡°in a more compounded manner¡± but this was hard to offer under the current system.

However, while the previous Conservative government was supportive of these courses, increasing the amount providers could charge annually by 20 per cent, Labour¡¯s stance is less clear.

Although the government has moved ahead with the LLE, which advocates more flexible learning and is likely to incentivise more providers to offer accelerated courses by bringing the fees in line with standard ones, cuts in other areas are sending mixed messages.?

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In a letter to the Office for Students?earlier this year, education minister Bridget Phillipson told the regulator to stop distributing funding for accelerated degrees ¨C worth ?3 million the previous academic year.?

This came as ¡°quite a surprise,¡± said Gareth Smith, chief of strategy and student life at University Academy 92 (UA92), an alternative provider founded by former Manchester United footballers and Lancaster University.

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He said it seemed ¡°incongruous¡± of the government to move ¡°into a system to encourage accelerated and more modular provision¡± only to then ¡°take that funding away¡±.?

Unlike traditional universities that may only offer one or two of these courses as part of a much wider portfolio, about 20 per cent of UA92¡¯s students are enrolled in accelerated degrees, meaning the funding cut was ¡°substantial¡± for the institution, Smith said.?

As a result, UA92, which focuses on widening participation, is not offering bursaries for students on its accelerated programmes.?

¡°That funding warps the market because we have poorer students who pick three-year degrees over two years, because we can afford to give them a bursary, which is so irrational when the two-year degree is the better deal,¡± he said.?

Smith added that these courses also save the government money because the exchequer has to pay out less in maintenance loans.?

He believes there could be ¡°nervousness¡± from the government about potential exploitation of these routes, in light of?recent scandals related to franchise provision.?

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Despite this, he said, ¡°We¡¯re continuing to accelerate [provision of these programmes] very heavily because we think it¡¯s so advantageous to our students in terms of that opportunity for them to study in that accelerated model and get into the labour market a year earlier.¡±

helen.packer@timeshighereducation.com