The university has abandoned its 'financial guarantee' and now only asks for proof that first-year course fees can be met
Following Damien Shannon’s challenge, the university has changed its admissions policy. Photograph: Martin Godwin
Oxford University has abandoned its "wealth test" for postgraduate students applying to its colleges after a student sued on the grounds of discrimination against the poor.
The university has rewritten its admissions policy under which colleges had selected students not just on academic merit, but on their ability to prove that they had liquid assets sufficient to cover £12,900 a year in living costs, in addition to potentially tens of thousands of pounds in tuition fees.
From this year, applicants merely need to show they can meet their tuition fees for their first year. There is no need to provide any financial evidence that living costs can also be met.
The change follows a legal challenge made this year by 27-year-old Damien Shannon, who sued Oxford's St Hugh's College on the grounds that people without wealth were being unlawfully excluded from the university. It was claimed that, along with other Oxford colleges, St Hugh's had been "selecting by wealth" in asking students with a conditional place at the university to demonstrate that they had access to considerable funds for their living costs, above and beyond the already significant cost of fees. The university had also been refusing to take into account projected earnings from students who plan to carry out paid work during their course.
Shannon's case was initially challenged by St Hugh's, whose alumni include the home secretary, Theresa May, and the college hired Peter Oldham QC to fight its case in court at a potential cost of at least £60,000 to the loser, according to documents seen by the Observer.
However, the college and university decided to review their position after the dispute was revealed in this newspaper.
The university has now abandoned what was previously called the "financial guarantee" in favour of a watered-down "financial declaration". It asks students to provide evidence of funds to cover fees for the first year of a course and asks applicants merely to "give your assurance that you are able and willing to meet your living costs for the duration of your course (no financial evidence is required)".
Hazel Blears, the former Labour cabinet minister who is Shannon's constituency MP for Salford and Eccles, said she was delighted by the development. "Damien has worked incredibly hard in pushing for this because, like me, he believes that insisting students must prove they have £13,000 towards living costs is deeply unfair, especially for those from poorer backgrounds," she said.
"It means that hugely intelligent men and women who have been offered places on academic merit are being denied the chance to make the most of their potential. Our country as a whole also misses out if their talent is not nurtured and the university must cease making proof of living costs a condition of entry."
Blears said she hoped the university would install a fair policy and establish means-tested scholarships for students from less affluent backgrounds.
It is understood that Shannon will attend St Hugh's in October to read for the one-year MSc in Economic and Social History course to which he originally applied last March.
A spokesman for Oxford university: "The financial declaration aims to ensure that students are fully aware of the expected fees and living costs associated with their graduate study at Oxford, and is still intended to prevent students dropping out during their course, which is in the interest of both the welfare of individual students and of the institution."
The university has rewritten its admissions policy under which colleges had selected students not just on academic merit, but on their ability to prove that they had liquid assets sufficient to cover £12,900 a year in living costs, in addition to potentially tens of thousands of pounds in tuition fees.
From this year, applicants merely need to show they can meet their tuition fees for their first year. There is no need to provide any financial evidence that living costs can also be met.
The change follows a legal challenge made this year by 27-year-old Damien Shannon, who sued Oxford's St Hugh's College on the grounds that people without wealth were being unlawfully excluded from the university. It was claimed that, along with other Oxford colleges, St Hugh's had been "selecting by wealth" in asking students with a conditional place at the university to demonstrate that they had access to considerable funds for their living costs, above and beyond the already significant cost of fees. The university had also been refusing to take into account projected earnings from students who plan to carry out paid work during their course.
Shannon's case was initially challenged by St Hugh's, whose alumni include the home secretary, Theresa May, and the college hired Peter Oldham QC to fight its case in court at a potential cost of at least £60,000 to the loser, according to documents seen by the Observer.
However, the college and university decided to review their position after the dispute was revealed in this newspaper.
The university has now abandoned what was previously called the "financial guarantee" in favour of a watered-down "financial declaration". It asks students to provide evidence of funds to cover fees for the first year of a course and asks applicants merely to "give your assurance that you are able and willing to meet your living costs for the duration of your course (no financial evidence is required)".
Hazel Blears, the former Labour cabinet minister who is Shannon's constituency MP for Salford and Eccles, said she was delighted by the development. "Damien has worked incredibly hard in pushing for this because, like me, he believes that insisting students must prove they have £13,000 towards living costs is deeply unfair, especially for those from poorer backgrounds," she said.
"It means that hugely intelligent men and women who have been offered places on academic merit are being denied the chance to make the most of their potential. Our country as a whole also misses out if their talent is not nurtured and the university must cease making proof of living costs a condition of entry."
Blears said she hoped the university would install a fair policy and establish means-tested scholarships for students from less affluent backgrounds.
It is understood that Shannon will attend St Hugh's in October to read for the one-year MSc in Economic and Social History course to which he originally applied last March.
A spokesman for Oxford university: "The financial declaration aims to ensure that students are fully aware of the expected fees and living costs associated with their graduate study at Oxford, and is still intended to prevent students dropping out during their course, which is in the interest of both the welfare of individual students and of the institution."
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