Do students work harder when university costs more? - HEA Annual Conference 2017 - Generation TEF: Teaching in the spotlight

Our study investigates the effects of higher university fees on student behaviour and performance. We use the fact that in 2012 fees in England rose for home and EU students but not for overseas students to isolate a causal effect of higher fees on students. The results show that first year students perform better after the fee rise while final year students perform worse. We then look at data on library and VLE usage to understand the mechanism through which this performance effect works.