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Fall in state-school university entrants since tuition fees hit £9,000 Fall in state-school university entrants since tuition fees hit £9,000
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The number of state-school children going into university education since tuition fees were almost tripled to £9,000 appears to have fallen, according to a government report. Labour has called on the government to urgently review student financing after new figures showed the percentage of children from state schools going into tertiary education dropped significantly the year tuition fees tripled to £9,000 a year.
Education minister Jo Johnson said more work needed to be done to create “a society that works for everyone” after the report revealed 62% of state-educated students went into higher education in 2013-14, down from 66% the year before. The shadow secretary for education, Angela Rayner, said the government was “slamming the doors” on students who have the talent but not the income to further their education.
Education minister Jo Johnson said more work needed to be done to create “a society that works for everyone” after the Department for Education report revealed 62% of state-educated students went into higher education in 2013-14, down from 66% the year before.
Related: When university can seem as distant as Mars | Barbara EllenRelated: When university can seem as distant as Mars | Barbara Ellen
It represents a widening of the gap between state and independent schools, as the latter sent 85% of their pupils to higher education in the years before and after the fees hike.It represents a widening of the gap between state and independent schools, as the latter sent 85% of their pupils to higher education in the years before and after the fees hike.
Johnson said: “Everyone in our country should be allowed to rise as far as their talents will take them, whoever they are and wherever they’re from. We will not rest until every young person in our country has the chance to fulfil their promise. With a gap still persisting depending on a student’s background, there is still more work to do to build a society that works for everyone.” Johnson said: “Everyone in our country should be allowed to rise as far as their talents will take them, whoever they are and wherever they’re from. We will not rest until every young person in our country has the chance to fulfil their promise. With a gap persisting depending on a student’s background, there is still more work to do to build a society that works for everyone.”
The report also includes analysis of those who attend schools offering free school meals. The number of 15-year-olds who received free school meals and went on to higher eduction by the time they were 19 increased from 13% in 2005 to 22% in 2013. The study, Widening Participation in Higher Education, does not indicate whether the fees are a definitive barrier to attending higher education, but notes that the 2013-14 university entrants were the “first cohort where all students were affected by the change in tuition fees in 2012-13”.
The study does not indicate whether the fees are a definitive barrier to attending higher education, but notes that the 2013-14 university entrants were the “first cohort where all students were affected by the change in tuition fees in 2012-13”. Rayner said the reason for the fall was obvious. “It doesn’t take a genius to work out that by tripling tuition fees to £9,000 a year, the Tories have put a huge barrier to higher education in the path of students from low and middle-income families,” she said. “It’s all very well for Jo Johnson to say more needs to be done – but rather than scrapping maintenance grants this week, the government needs to look again at the whole question of student finances.”
Figures hint at other potential factors, as the percentage of state-educated children going to the most selective universities in the country including Oxford and Cambridge has remained the same, at 23%. She said the UK needed a system that is “sustainable, affordable and opens up educational opportunities for the next generation, especially for young people from poorer backgrounds”.
However the report makes cautionary reading for government ministers and educational leaders, who have pledged to increase the chances of those from poorer households to get to university. Overall the number of state-educated students going to third-level education was in decline over the last five years. Janet Clark, education policy adviser at the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, said the figures were not surprising given the average student leaves university with £44,000 of debt. “Many young people who have experienced their families’ financial struggles as children will be wary of taking on such a huge burden of debt,” said Clark.
The Tories also faced calls for change from the National Union of Students which said the present government continued the “coalition’s rhetoric that high fees and debt” were not putting off students. “For a government that talks the talk on social mobility, it needs to seriously consider the effect its market reforms are having on higher education participation,” it said. “The cutting of grants to the poorest students and further increases in tuition fees proposed down the line are sending a message to many families that university isn’t for people like them.”
The figures were released days after the government scrapped maintenance grants for students from poor backgrounds in England, replacing the payments of about £3,500 with additional loans. The percentage of state-educated children going to the most selective universities in the country including Oxford and Cambridge has remained the same at 23%.
However, the report makes cautionary reading for government ministers and educational leaders, who have pledged to increase the chance of those from poorer households getting to university. Overall, the number of state-educated students going on to tertiary education declined over the past five years.
The figures show 71% of state-educated children were in higher education by the time they were 19 in the 2009-10 academic year. By 2013-14, this had dropped to 62%.The figures show 71% of state-educated children were in higher education by the time they were 19 in the 2009-10 academic year. By 2013-14, this had dropped to 62%.
Tuition fees were first introduced by Tony Blair’s government at the start of the 1998 academic year. This £1,000 annual payment rose to £3,000 under legislation introduced in 2004 and came into effect for students starting in 2006. The Conservative-Liberal Democratic coalition hiked these to £9,000 in 2010, a move which sparked student protests. Protesters smashed windows and waved anarchist flags from the roof of the building housing the Conservative party headquarters as the fringe of a vast rally against university funding cuts turned violent in November 2010. Katie Hopgood from Croydon, a 20-year-old state school-educated student, said living costs should also be taken into account. “Rent costs at university are way too high. My student loan doesn’t even cover the cost of the rent,” she said. “If I were doing A-levels now, I would seriously consider trying to commute somewhere from home instead.”
The fees were also blamed for the near-annihilation of the Lib Dem parliamentary party in the 2015 general election, with the party unable to shake off accusations that it had betrayed Nick Clegg’s electoral promise that it would not increase the fees. Georgina Hodson, 22, who abandoned plans to take her place in Birmingham University to become a bilingual personal assistant in PA, said she was “100% put off by the fees and the thought of lifelong debt”.
The figures were released days after the government scrapped maintenance grants for students from poor backgrounds in England, replacing the payments of about £3,500 with additional loans which would have to be paid back at the end of an undergraduate course, once graduates are earning. Ucas, the central university applications body, said its own research on the impact of fees showed they were “a barrier to poorer householders” but that quickly recovered with record numbers now attending university and college. “It interrupted a trend. The questions is would figures in higher education be higher if the fees hadn’t gone up,” said a spokesman.
The report comes six months after statistics showed the percentage of disadvantaged students being accepted at Oxford and Cambridge had fallen over the past decade. These universities have taken fewer students from poor socio-economic backgrounds than every other university in the country, although both institutions have seen a rise in the proportion of entrants from state schools. Tuition fees were introduced by Tony Blair’s government at the start of the 1998 academic year. This £1,000 annual payment rose to £3,000 under legislation introduced in 2004, which came into effect for students starting in 2006. The Conservative-Liberal Democratic coalition hiked these fees to £9,000 in 2010, a move which sparked student protests.
The latest Ucas data shows there are record numbers of people from disadvantaged backgrounds going to university – with young people from the most disadvantaged areas 65% more likely to enter higher education than they were 10 years ago.