Recommendation 17

Most college funding follows the learner, and each college’s funding is largely determined by the funding rates per learner and the number of learners it has. Funding for students aged 16 to 19 was by far the largest funding stream in 2018/19, and represented around half of all college income.31 The formula that the ESFA uses to calculate funding for these students is based on student numbers from the previous year, and data for other parts of the formula, such as student retention rates, are taken from two years previously.32