However, the world has changed since 1983. Most people will end up having several careers/jobs over their working life and so will benefit from or need reskilling – like many of my OU friends. This doesn’t have to be by completing a whole degree of course, but a 3.3 fold increase in fees for a single module is hard for many to find – especially given the huge squeeze on family budgets that has happened since 2008.

I took a single OU module in 1990 when I first started to lead a team at work. I’d have never been able to afford to pay for that module at the 2012 price, so would not have done so. With hindsight I’m certain that my career has benefited by far more than even the 2012 cost, but like many of my generation I’m conservative when it comes to spending money! I’d have lost out – and lost life chances as a result.

It’s a good point that the Government’s changes to university funding appear to have started closing doors for many people.

But can I check something with you? You mentioned your Dad’s cousin who was originally a hairdresser like Rita and ended up a Headteacher thanks to the OU.

You asked “who can afford to lose £5,000 p.a. of their £25,000 p.a. salary?”

Did your Dad’s cousin study full-time? I can’t really remember the film (and I’ve not seen the play), but I would have thought that Rita was studying part-time like most OU students, so she’s got the income from the hairdressing to live on. That cuts the fees a lot, but it’s still £2500 for 60 points (assuming it’s England we’re talking about?)

But then according to this page households earning under £25k gets scholarships. And for 60 points that’s £1500. So the fee is £1000 a year.

Rita would have to do six 60 point modules to get a degree, so that would be £6000. OK, still a lot. Did your Dad’s cousin pay much?

But then Rita in 2012 wouldn’t actually need to find that money. Just like full-time students, she could avoid upfront fees by getting a loan.

Would Rita take on a loan? She might take the attitude that being in debt to the tune of £6000 is risky. She might worry about rent, food and household bills. What would happen if she missed repayments? What if she needed another loan, for a car or a mortgage, say?

But then the student loan is not really a loan like a normal loan. She doesn’t pay anything when she’s earning under £21k. The repayments are taken off automatically in income tax (9% above £21k), so there are no debt collectors and the loan doesn’t appear on credit files. I’m getting all this from moneysavingexpert.com by the way.

To go back to your question “who can afford to lose £5,000 p.a. of their £25,000 p.a. salary?” So, if I’ve got this right, if Rita were earning £25k, she would actually be paying back £360pa, via income tax.

Does anyone who knows about this stuff know if this is right?

So why this enthusiasm for the iconic Scouser? The play presents the OU in a positive light. While Rita’s marriage implodes and she loses some of her friends she triumphs in the end. The OU has long been proud of the ways in which it encourages students to collaborate with one another and to construct their own learning. From the title onwards the play frequently indicates that Rita is both being educated and educating somebody else. This reinforces the idea that learning involves interaction. Moreover, by foregrounding Rita’s effect on Frank, the play addressed the criticism that surfaced through the late 70s and early 1980s, that the OU poured effective left-wing propaganda into gullible students. E M Forster’s ‘crap’ (as Rita puts it) novel Howard’s End (1910) concludes that collaborative learning can occur involving both open-minded intellectuals, the Schlegel siblings, and a family more focused on the practical and economic the Wilcoxes. However, unlike the protagonists in the novel, Rita and Frank’s learning, and their relationship, is not resolved. Perhaps this hints that within lifelong learning dialogue could continue?

Rita’s entry to higher education is literally impeded when she can’t open the door at the start of the play while for her final entrance she is calm and confident. She does not, as she did before, unpack her notebook and pen. Instead she picks up some scissors and starts to cut hair. By foregrounding her circular route, and returning her to her roots, albeit without the peroxide, Russell makes her neither a Delilah nor a Sweeney Todd (and I’ve run out of famous barbers now). Rather he enables her to employ her own skills within the learning environment. These are images of an OU student that the OU would like to promote. Russell helped to make the OU into a national treasure so I reckon she’ll be around until a more popular update comes along.

By the way, Russell was, by his own admission, a dreadful hairdresser (like Rita). Although he studied part-time as an adult he didn’t study with the OU. However, one night he came to see a production of a play of his being put on by OU staff at Walton Hall and spent some time listening to people tell him about the OU.

Finally, I am collecting people’s OU stories. You can upload your own story, or even that of your Dad’s cousin, here: http://www8.open.ac.uk/researchprojects/historyofou/

The OU offered the ‘ordinary Joe’ a route to self-development that had previosuly been closed to them and now it is closing the door on those very same people it was set up to help. People like my Dad’s cousin, who left school without an O’ level. Like Russell and Rita she went into hairdressing, and like Rita and Russell she wanted more. After studying with the OU she went on to become a teacher and is now Head of a school.

I spoke to my Dad’s cousin at my grandfather’s funeral last year and she said that she would never have been able to have afforded today’s fees. I mean, seriously, who can afford to lose £5,000 p.a. of their £25,000 p.a. salary? All this about Rita and her OU facebook page…Rita in 2012 would find the OU door closed.

Thanks! I was getting off my train as I pushed the “publish” button, so I hadn’t done. However, I’ve now tweeted @TheIndyNews with the link to the post – let’s see if they respond!

Tim.

Thanks for the comment! I really enjoy the ‘History of the OU’ blog and am hugely appreciative of its content and the obvious time and effort that goes into preparing it. I’m not sure that there’s anything similar for any other University – at least, I haven’t come across anything.

I think that as well as summer schools, the success of the independently run OUPS mini summer schools and revision weekends do show the value for many students of at least some face to face contact for short, concentrated periods during a degree programme. The five years I spent studying with the OU involved 2 one week projects at Bath (both of which had online equivalents that few speak in glowing terms about) and I voluntarily attended (and paid for!!) two OUPS revision weekends in addition.

The whole OU experience wouldn’t have been nearly as valuable to me without attending them. But I agree – more research is required (as all good psychologists would say!). The Independent article makes an assertion about modern OU students not wanting them – and offers no evidence to support this view. I can’t find any evidence to support this view either – but I can find evidence on the OU’s own website in the form of the course reviews linked to to indicate that students (certainly on the level 2 psychology project) prefer in-person to online tuition.

Tim.

I may have developed a different take on summer schools since I wrote that posting. In regard to residential schools there have been debates over the years but relatively little analysis. In June 1995 in their paper ‘Residential Summer Schools Attendance and Students’ Assessed Performances on Open University Foundation Courses’, Alan Gillie and Alan Woodley (both of the OU) suggested that added a few percentage points to final examination scores. There was a follow-up by Gordon Burt (also at the OU) in 2006.He concluded that on balance they were a reasonable idea, but that many exaggerated claims had been made as to their benefits. I have fond memories of summer schools, and may have made an exaggerated claim or two myself, but I recognise that other ways of supporting learning may be more appropriate for students in 2012.

As for the relationship between Rita and the OU. It is complicated one and a subject to which we should return.