The UKʼs higher-education watchdog has brought-in big finance firms to check universities money problems. PwC and KPMG got picked to watch-over schools that might go broke: their job is making sure no students end up without classes
The Office for Students found some not-good news; about 3/4 of schools will lose money next yr (and 40% dont have enough cash saved up). They think schools need to find ways to fix a big money gap — around £3.4bn by 2025 — because there arent as many foreign students coming anymore
Two schools show how bad things are getting. Coventry University had some rough numbers:
- Had to save £100m in two years
- Paid £55m just to get foreign students
- Spent lots more on basic stuff like heat and rent
- Has many students not paying fees on time
Meanwhile London South Bank University isnt doing great either — they lost £16.4m last yr; even though their boss David Phoenix got a £10k bonus (making his pay £322k). The school says its ok because they have good assets‚ but experts think different
The government tried to help by making tuition fees go up from £9‚250 to £9‚535: but money-people say its not enough. Simon Stibbons from Kroll thinks the next year-and-half will be super hard for schools. With higher costs and less money coming in; many places might need more than just small fixes to stay open