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

• Employers spent an average of £447 on these costs while half spent less that £214. Studentsemployed full-time received an average of £455 from their employer and those employed parttimejust £350.• When Table 3.7 is compared to Table 3.5, it is quite clear that responsibility for meeting theadditional costs of study lay with the students themselves.3.2.3 Other help from employersAs we have seen, the vast majority of part-time students were employed (87%) and they weredoing their course on a part-time basis because of their work commitments. These employedstudents were asked a series of questions about any further help they received from theiremployer.• 35 per cent of working students were given paid time off work in order to study, and this figurerose to 40 per cent for those working full-time, but fell to 16 per cent for those working parttime.Overall, more men than women were given paid time off (38% compared with 33%) andthis was because of their patterns of employment. A similar proportion of men (39%) andwomen (41%) employed full-time benefited, but a much larger proportion of men than womenworking part-time received this support (17% compared with 7%).• 16 per cent of working students were given unpaid time off work in order to study. This figurefell to 15 per cent for those working full-time, and rose to 22 per cent for those working parttime.Overall, there were no gender differences in the proportion of men and women receivingunpaid time off but there were in relation to their hours of employment. Hence, the sameproportion of male and female full-time employees were given unpaid time off work to studybut male part-time employees were less likely than their female colleagues to get unpaid timeoff (21% compared with 31%) because they were more likely to get this time off paid for bytheir employer.• So clearly, this additional help was primarily given to those in full-time jobs, who are morelikely to be men than women. However, women working full-time were just as likely as theirfull-time male colleagues to get paid, and unpaid, time off work to study.3.3 Total study costsThe total costs of studying were calculated by adding together tuition/course fees and other studycosts.3.3.1 Average total study costs• Table 3.8 (1 st line) shows that the mean total study costs (ie, tuition and other course costs) forstudents incurring these costs, irrespective of whether they paid these costs themselves,amounted to £1,385 over the academic year. A quarter of students had costs of £740 or under,a half had costs under £1,175 and a half more than this sum, while a quarter had costs of£1,710 or more.Part-time students and part-time study: Strand 3 Universities UK 37