Expectation versus Reality: Managing Student Perceptions of Value for Money
Students are increasingly questioning how their university experience provides value for money; how can providers set realistic expectations?
Value for money (VfM) is an increasingly prominent topic across the higher education sector in the UK.
As the cost of living goes up and industrial action continues to affect teaching and learning, students are considering what constitutes good value when it comes to studying towards a degree in these challenging financial times. Similarly, with home student tuition fees frozen, universities are facing an income that is degrading in real terms alongside wider inflationary pressures. As a result, attempting to provide a fulfilling student experience that meets the expectations of their cohorts and the sector regulator can be challenging.
Furthermore, as the current government commits to cracking down on ‘low value’ or ‘rip off’ degrees, it’s more important than ever that higher education providers demonstrate how their offering provides VfM.
In this context, ensuring students have reasonable expectations of value and communicating financial information to them accurately is crucial. In this article, we explore 3 key ways universities can bridge the gap between expectations and reality when it comes to student perceptions of VfM.
1. Do Your Research
2. Be Transparent and Communicative
3. Optimise Complaints Procedures
4. Align Marketing with Delivery
Do Your Research
The first step to managing student perceptions of VfM is to understand what ‘value’ actually means to them.
It’s worth noting that the concept of VfM is highly personal and will mean something different to individual students. For example, factors of the student experience indicating VfM could include:
The standard of teaching delivery
Contact hours and touchpoints
Access to facilities and resources
Opportunities to engage in extracurricular activities
Likelihood of good student outcomes
The quality of support services, such as mental health and financial support
Working with your students to understand what matters to them when it comes to VfM is essential. While paying attention to national reports and surveys, such as the National Student Survey (NSS) and National Student Money Survey is important, you should also make efforts to conduct your own research. After all, the demographics that make up your student body might affect what they consider VfM.
A few ideas on how you can gather this kind of feedback from students include:
Working with your Students’ Union (SU) on campaigns and collaborating to conduct surveys and focus groups
Engaging across multiple platforms – consider, for example, setting up a chatbot on a relevant page of your website or conducting polls on social media
Setting up a student advisory board or steering committee – for further guidance on how to do this, see how Edge Hill set up advisory boards to support as part of their Widening Participation (WP) agenda
Once you have a clear sense of what your student body considers to be VfM, then you can formulate an approach to managing their expectations, by indicating to you what activities and modes of communication will best demonstrate to students how you’re striving to meet their demands.
Be Transparent and Communicative
How you communicate financial information with your students is a fundamental tenet of managing their expectations around VfM. In recent years, the Office for Students (OfS) have advocated for providers to be more transparent and communicative with their students about their income and expenditure.
Points of consideration when it comes to developing a more robust approach to communicating financial information include:
Having a page on your website that breaks down incoming money to the university and how it is distributed
Explaining in clear terms key financial information, such as charity status (and what it entails) as well as how the student loan process works
Demonstrate information in clear, accessible ways, using multiple formats if possible, such as infographics or tables
Avoid breaking it down into extremely granular terms, but think about how you can make it relatable or relevant for individual students – for example, the University of Sussex provides a breakdown of exactly how and where the tuition fee for 1 year of study is spent
Consider benchmarking how you perform relevant to other providers – the University of Reading signposts to its performance across measures such as the Research Excellence Framework (REF), the NSS and QS University Rankings
Include information on how the university receives and spends its money in marketing and induction materials, so that prospective and incoming students understand
For further guidance on how to develop an effective framework to communicate financial information to students, see UUK’s 2022 report, which includes several examples of best practice across the sector.
By communicating in clear and transparent ways with your students about how your institution receives money and where it is spent, you can demonstrate the value of the student experience and also encourage reasonable expectations when it comes to VfM.
Optimise Complaints Procedures
While the ‘student-as-consumer’ model is not uncontested across the sector, some of its attributes can be useful when considering how to manage student expectations of VfM. For example, the OfS outlines the following as key attributes to upholding the student-as-consumer model, which are expectations of their C Conditions and also form the basis of the UK government’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) guidelines:
Students should receive clear, accurate and timely information about their course and university or college.
Student contracts should contain fair terms and conditions
There should be fair mechanisms for dealing with complaints
The final point – making sure students are able to report complaints that are dealt with in an appropriate manner – is crucial when it comes to managing VfM expectations. Students should feel that, if they are concerned they are not receiving adequate VfM, there is a process by which they can resolve this with the university.
For further guidance on the student-as-consumer model, watch a HE Professional panel discussion that deep dives into this topic.
Many institutions will be focused on optimising their complaints procedure, especially given the prevalence of industrial action over recent years and how it is impacting the student experience. Some tips that will help you to address complaints concerning VfM include:
Make sure there is a dedicated channel and procedure for processing for complaints concerning VfM, and that this is clearly signposted to students
Follow guidance from the Office of the Independent Adjudicator (OIA) for Higher Education – you can hear insight and suggestions from a series of OIA case summaries in this HE Professional webinar
Outline clearly what a complaint concerning VfM must include, using anonymous examples where possible
Explain the expected timeline for complaints of such a nature and, where possible, share examples of how complaints have been resolved in the past, indicating how the university has taken action
Regularly review the complaints you receive to understand patterns and identify any potential systemic or recurring problems
By having a complaints procedure which is clear and effective, you can ensure students know what they are entitled to complain about and how it will be dealt with. In this way, their expectations around VfM will be supported by the complaints procedure.
Align Marketing with Delivery
Finally, to bridge the gap between expectations and reality when it comes to students’ perception of VfM, it’s crucial that marketing and promotional materials accurately reflect delivery. Essentially, student experience should align with what they signed up for.
Consider taking the following steps:
Review promotional materials before every recruitment cycle to ensure that course information is accurate and up to date
Develop student-generated content – this is the best way to ensure that marketing materials are authentic, as it comes from the students themselves
Be clear and honest about how teaching will be delivered
Provide as many opportunities as possible for prospects to speak with current students, such as Open Days or Ambassador Schemes
Develop your marketing strategy for courses with consideration of feedback provided by former students, especially that which addresses their expectations and actual experience of the programme
When students have access to accurate information about what they can expect before enrolment, it’s more likely that their experience will meet their expectations. This, in turn, helps to define what might constitute value in the student experience and achieve higher rates of satisfaction.
Value and Satisfaction
In the current climate, with frozen tuition fees, ongoing industrial disputes and a cost-of-living crisis, it’s unlikely that questions of value will lose their pertinence in the sector any time soon. While providers cannot control the contextual factors that impact students’ sense of value, they can do more to communicate more openly with their students regarding finance and define realistic expectations of what they can provide in the way of the student experience.
For further guidance on how providers can enhance student experience and satisfaction, explore our upcoming events and premium content for members.
