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Find out more about how Solent invests the income it receives each year.

4th December 2017

Each year Southampton Solent University receives income from a range of sources, including funding body grants and operating incomes. However the largest proportion of our income comes from tuition fees. As such, it is important to us that we ensure our income is used as effectively as possible, and in a way that delivers maximum benefit to our students and their experience here.

If you’d like to know more about how Solent invests the income it receives each year, take a look below:

Income and expenditure infographic 

Download the fees and expenditure infographic as a pdf

The income Solent receives is used to fund all the University’s day-to-day activities, including the provision of teaching and support, both through our academic schools and through the services that students access, like our specialist facilities, learning resources and library.

It also supports other elements of our student experience, from the Students’ Union and bursaries, to our Student Services, which includes access and welfare services.

Finally, our income enables us to invest in longer term projects, like the Spark’s new learning and teaching facilities, our new sports building which is currently under construction, and the on-going work that ensures facilities across our estate are kept up to date.

For most of our students, coming to university is a once-in-a-lifetime event, and our focus remains on helping everyone who is interested in attending Solent make an informed choice about whether this is the right place for them; and, once they arrive, on ensuring they enjoy the best possible experience throughout their time here.  

Value for money at Solent

  • We have high levels of graduate employment – 95% of our full-time graduates are in employment or further study six months after leaving us.
  • We have been ranked by The Economist as the 12th best British university for boosting graduate earnings.
  • We received high scores for student engagement and satisfaction in this year’s National Student Survey, even as the sector averages decreased. We also have five subjects ranked in the top ten in the UK for overall satisfaction.
  • Following a rigorous and in-depth assessment of our academic capability by the Quality Assurance Agency, we have been granted Research Degree Awarding Powers, meaning we can now award our own doctorates.
  • We are recognised for the work we do supporting students across a range of enterprise and employability skills, and have been ranked ninth in the sector for graduate start-ups by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE).  This includes 110 graduate start-ups in 2015-16, including freelance work, self-employment and new businesses.
  • We are also committed to the part we play in providing our students with the lifelong benefits that higher education provides, from higher earnings and better employment prospects, to better general and mental health, and greater life satisfaction.

Tuition fees: an overview

Tuition fees were first introduced in the UK in 1998, with students who began their courses that autumn paying £1,000 a year. As the Government began the process of cutting the Higher Education budget, transferring the cost of Higher Education from the state to students, this then rose to £3,000 a year for students starting their courses in 2006 or later, and then rose again to a cap of £9,000 for students starting university in 2012. This year, the government has frozen tuition fees at £9,250, and has announced plans for a review of student funding, with more details expected early in 2018.