Part-time Students And part-time Study In Higher ... - Universities UK

• Overall, these additional study costs came to a mean of £625 over the academic year for thosestudents incurring these costs, but for half of them, these costs amounted to less than £350over the academic year.• The equivalent figure in Woodley’s study (2004, p19) was £321 for all students incurring a costwhile in the 2004/05 SIES the equivalent figure for all students (irrespective of whether theyspent money on an any item) was £889 (Finch et al, 2006, p138).• Looking at the average amount spent on each item, whereas the most common item ofexpenditure was books, in terms of actual costs, childcare and computers were the mostexpensive (a mean cost this academic year of £888 and £372 respectively), followed byregistration fees (£308). However, childcare and registration costs were paid by a smallproportion of the students surveyed.• A further indirect cost was incurred by some employed students. Just over a quarter (27%) ofthem had reduced their hours of work in order to pursue their part-time study and thus,experienced a drop in earnings. This was particularly the case for students employed part-timeat the time of the survey who were more than twice as likely as those working full-time to havereduced their working hours (51% compared with 21%), and especially women in part-timejobs (57% compared with 50% part-time male workers). However, we have not attempted toput a monetary value on students’ loss of earnings.Table 3.6: Other course costs by typePercentage ofstudents incurringcostMean amount incurred£Median amountincurred £Books 82 134 100Travel 60 282 150Computers 36 372 200Special16 145 50equipment andmaterialsChildcare 8 888 500Residential4 285 250courseField trips 6 214 110Registration fees 10 308 100Exam fees 6 177 100Other 8 121 50None 9 0 0Any costs 91 625 350Base 2,654Base: All students.Source: London South Bank University – UK Part-time Student Survey 2006Part-time students and part-time study: Strand 3 Universities UK 35