Are the costs for postgraduate study ethical?

Posted on by Hollie Meehan

Graduation ceremony

While undergraduate study has never been more accessible, the opposite is now true for postgraduate study. In 2021/22, there were 1,807,290 UK students in higher education. Of these, 204,830 were on a taught master’s programme, 22,005 were on a PGCE, and just over 60,000 were studying other taught postgraduate programmes. These figures indicate a dramatic drop in numbers from undergraduate. Contributing to this decrease is the rising cost of postgraduate study, and as a result the increasing amount of money that students have to pay out of their own pockets. So exactly how much money do students have to pay for postgraduate education? And what are the consequences of this beyond simply the financial?

In short, the extortionate cost of postgraduate study, in particular taught master’s programmes, severely limits the types of people able to continue their education, to only those who can fund their studies from familial wealth. This means that despite an institutional push for decolonisation, diversity, and inclusion, those who can enter the academic profession will not be from diverse backgrounds.

In 2015-16, the average tuition fee of a taught master’s programme in the UK was £5,901. By contrast, for 2024 entry, the cost has double. The table below shows the average cost of a taught master’s programme at four different universities, using a sample of ten programmes1.

University /Average Cost

Lancaster University:

£12,960

Nottingham University:

£11,440

Manchester University:

£14,300

King’s College London:

£15,498

In addition to this, Student Finance England’s student loans for master’s degrees are currently capped at £12,167. From the data in the table, we can see that this loan does not cover the average cost of tuition at three of the universities listed. This means that students have to pay part of their tuition fees out of pocket, in addition to rent, utilities, and living costs. The table below shows accommodation cost, taking the cheapest option available to postgraduates on the university website for each room type.

University /Shared Bathroom Cost /Ensuite Cost

Lancaster University

£6,979 /£9,436

Nottingham University

£6,375 /£7,905

Manchester University

£6,018 /£8,823

King’s College London

£10,149 /£13,668

From this, we can see that prospective master’s students have to pay approximately £6,000 at minimum for accommodation.

With the cost of living added on top of both excess course fees after loan and accommodation, completing a master’s degree seems impossible.

To make matters worse, there are very few scholarship opportunities available for master’s degrees in comparison to undergraduate. Most universities offer alumni around a 10% discount on course fees for postgraduate study, although this does not amount to much overall. As a result, overcoming a deficit of between £6,000 and £17,000 does not seem possible for most.

To solve this, many suggest that students take on a master’s degree part-time to reduce their yearly fee cost and allow them to take on part-time work alongside their studies. This however is not the attractive opportunity that it appears to be. While the tuition fee per year is half as much as studying full-time, students would have to fund two years of accommodation and living costs on top of it. In addition, many of those who study full-time, including both undergraduates and postgraduates, already take on a part-time job. This does not give them sufficient income to afford the cost of an extra year of accommodation. While taking on a part time job may help to alleviate some of their financial worries, this only adds to their workload and pressure that they feel, and can be debilitating to grades and mental health.

So why is this increase in cost so detrimental?

The cost of a master’s degree in the current climate means that many are put off continuing studies, unless family can fund it. This means that postgraduate education is only available to those from better socioeconomic backgrounds, who already have an advantage in academic settings. It limits the variety of the backgrounds of those in academia, preventing differing perspectives despite institutional calls for decolonisation, diversity, and inclusion.

Additionally, the growing inaccessibility of postgraduate study means that the value of both master’s degrees and PhDs will increase dramatically. The demand for those who have completed these levels of study will rise, and resulting high-paying jobs will have to be filled by those who can afford postgraduate study. This means that the future of academia lies in the hands of those who can fully fund their own study through familial wealth. Careers that require or favour a higher level of study, such as academia, politics, scientific research, and high-level data analysis and economics will be dominated by those who could self-fund their studies. This leaves those without this option behind.

In conclusion, the rising cost of postgraduate education means that the diversity of those who can apply is severely limited. In turn, this limits the type of people who can enter academia as a career, limiting our perspectives in research and literature. This is especially important for current topics of discussion like artificial intelligence, international political issues such as the wars in Ukraine and Gaza, and the future of education. Limiting the types of people who can pursue postgraduate education has knock on effects in a broad range of areas and can lead to potentially devastating consequences. As a result, postgraduate students need significantly more support in order to avoid this narrowing of perspectives and create a fair, diverse, and inclusive academic environment.

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