The Helena Kennedy Foundation works with students in further education progressing to higher education. When students’ main concern is the cost associated with studying, it comes as little surprise that the first year of university tuition fees set with the maximum £9,000 rate possible, has seen a drop in applicants.
When the government announced its plan to treble tuition fees, voices across the higher education sector united to warn them that for many the idea that getting a degree will leave you burdened with debt for most of your working life, before you have even considered the cost of living, is one that will deter people from applying.
Ministers talk about favourable interest rates, not starting to pay back your loans until you’re earning over £21,000 and the lack of any upfront cost. These are all good news stories, but the 2012 UCAS figures show us that for too many students all that shines through the complexity of the system is the £9,000 price tag.
David Willets is keen to point out that, despite the nearly 10 per cent drop in applications that this year has seen the second highest number of applications to university.
But look at who isn’t going; the fall in applications from mature students is even greater. Those with responsibilities don’t believe they can take the financial risk of going to university regardless of what the benefits might be. It is clear that for all the outreach work the government has invested in a gap remains, and more needs to be done to ensure mature students have all the information they need about student finance.
When we’ve spent more time myth-busting about the ticket price and focusing on fee waivers instead of putting money in students’ pockets it’s clear that glossy leaflets and posters spelling out how the system works haven’t solved the problem. The system needs to lose the sticker price or the last decade’s work on widening access will be undone.
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Susan Nash is national chair of Young Labour. She tweets @Susan_Nash
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Can you really claim ‘the last decades work on widening access will be undone?’
There are still more people applying to university this year than there were in 2009 (and far more than any other year before that.)
The Guardian points out that there has been a sharper fall in applications amongst RICHER teenagers. http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2012/jul/09/university-applicants-2012-ucas?newsfeed=true
This article is hyperbole.
The Helena Kennedy Foundation? She ENCOURAGED Labour to introduce fees in the first place!
Many of those taking on the student loan debt will never have to pay it back, because they may never get a job which pays enough. Graduates are stacking shelves where I live, and grateful that they have a job at all. The problem for young people is that if they don’t get a degree, they are not even considered for most entry level jobs. The sort of thing O level school leavers did in the 1970s is now for graduates, and only graduates from prestigious universities who have a 2.1. But opting out is not necessarily the best thing, due to lack of non-graduate jobs. Labour needs to promote apprenticeships because they lead to a job, and make those who take apprenticeships feel that they have really achieved something. This is an excellent scheme, but politicians seem ambivalent about it.