Welfare-Adjacent Universities: Governing Student Precarity through Platformized Responsibilization and Conditional Care

• In Event: Sociology of Education Section Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): Table 9. Higher Education Financial Policy

Abstract

This paper examines how UK universities govern student financial precarity through student finance support. Drawing on qualitative thematic analysis of publicly accessible finance support materials collected in 2025 from a stratified sample of 32 UK universities, the study identifies two interrelated modes of governance: platformized responsibilization and conditional care. First, universities frequently direct students to budgeting tools, calculators, and third-party financial wellbeing platforms, framing hardship as a matter of individual self-management and behavioural adjustment. Second, hardship support is presented as care but tightly rationed through evidentiary requirements and expectations of prudence, requiring students to demonstrate legitimate need and responsible conduct. These findings contribute to the sociology of higher education by showing that the contemporary university functions as a welfare-adjacent institution, performing “safety net” functions traditionally associated with the welfare state while operating through the marketized logics of neoliberalism. This highlights an emerging and previously overlooked role of the university in the financialization and discipline of students.

Authors

• Junan He, Manchester Metropolitan University

• April Jiawei Zhang, City University of Macau