University students put off by fees
I predicted last year that the rise in tuition fees would leave a number of talented youngsters trapped in rural villages with limited career and personal development choices. There is no spatial context to the following article, which reveals that applicants have fallen by 8% or 15,000 students but I bet if we were able to dig deeper in terms of the home locations of many of these individuals I would have cause to say “told you so!” The article goes on to say:
“The increase in tuition fees, due to rise to up to £9,000 at many universities from this year, was widely expected to be a game changer for higher education – a prediction borne out by independent analysis of the coalition’s controversial reform, published last week. The report – carried out by the Independent Commission on Fees chaired by Will Hutton, principal of Hertford College, Oxford – showed a drop in the number of university applicants in England of 8.8% this year – representing some 15,000 “lost” students, who might otherwise have been expected to apply for a place on a degree course.”