Fewer students are likely to go to university this autumn despite a record year for A-level results, prompting fears that new "top-up" fees have put young people off higher education. Although critics of fees predicted poorer students would be hit hardest, the UCAS figures say the decrease was similar across the different social groups. Perhaps “A” level students are also looking at entering the job market whilst they can, earning money and work experience whilst the job market is buoyant enough for them to do so. If they’re worried about the money then this would be a really wise move instead of looking forward to increasing loans or bankrupting their parents.
Fewer students are likely to go to university this autumn despite a record year for A-level results, prompting fears that new "top-up" fees have put young people off higher education. Although critics of fees predicted poorer students would be hit hardest, the UCAS figures say the decrease was similar across the different social groups. Perhaps “A” level students are also looking at entering the job market whilst they can, earning money and work experience whilst the job market is buoyant enough for them to do so. If they’re worried about the money then this would be a really wise move instead of looking forward to increasing loans or bankrupting their parents.
As reported in the Independent this year's A-level results, which saw almost one in four entries awarded an A grade, has at this time in mid August failed to produce the expected late surge in university applications, official figures confirmed. There is still time, but not much. Yesterday, 301,074 students had confirmed their places - a drop of nearly 3 per cent on last year, figures from the Universities and Colleges Admission Service revealed. At this point last year, 309,777 students had confirmed their places. This year's students will be the first to pay new fees of up to £3,000 a year rather than the current annual flat rate of £1,175. Gemma Tumelty, the president of the National Union of Students, said it was no surprise that fear of debt was putting many students off university. "This time last year we saw a real rush of last-minute applications, but this year it doesn't look as if the same surge will be seen," she said. "Unfortunately therefore, it would appear that the drop in applications for university this year may not be reversed. Whilst this is disappointing, it sadly comes as no surprise." She added: "With a recent survey suggesting that prospective students expect a degree to cost £33,512, it is no surprise if some students are put off." There are still vacancies on nearly 37,400 university courses listed on the UCAS Clearing vacancy service. Just over 3,000 students found places in the first 24 hours of Clearing, the service which matches students with suitable courses. Since the service opened online just after midnight on Thursday there have been more than half a million searches for courses. The top five subjects were law, psychology, economics, English and medicine. There were no science subjects in the top 20.
In February, figures from Ucas had shown that the number of people applying to university has fallen for the first time in six years. Almost 13,000 fewer people applied by 15 January this year, a drop of 3.4 per cent. Among English students applying to universities in England - the group most affected by fees - applications fell 4.5 per cent. Applications to Scottish and Welsh universities, which are not affected, rose slightly.
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