Reshaping HE provision for the commuter student market: Increasing financial stability and meeting our educational and environmental obligations

CCCU, in common with many other Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in the UK Higher Education (HE) sector, is facing considerable financial pressure.

Adapting our provision to focus on commuter students is key to our future financial stability.

This paper presents evidence from primary research with CCCU students, alongside results from the analysis of a national dataset provided by the Higher Education Statistical Authority (HESA), to argue that this pragmatic approach has the potential to address many of the key financial challenges that are identified by the Office for Students (OfS, 2024), as well as the educational and environmental imperatives that shape Vision 2030 (CCCU, 2024).

The paper reveals that, for the first time, there are now more commuter students in the UK than traditional residential students. There is, therefore, a market to target. As two-thirds of our current student population are commuters, we are well-placed to market ourselves as a commuter university. However, our metrics, considering attainment, experience and retention, plus qualitative research by the author, suggest that, in common with the wider sector, our provision does not meet commuters’ needs.

Adapting our provision for commuters will increase our financial stability: higher retention rates maintain fees income and reduce recruitment costs; better metrics improve league table position, influencing recruitment. And our increasing numbers of commuter students increases our carbon footprint. There is a financial imperative to reduce these emissions, by adapting our provisions to the needs of our commuters.

This paper presents a range of research-informed, pragmatic adaptations to our provision that will meet commuter students’ needs, increasing financial stability and meeting our educational and environmental obligations.