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Education: A-Level students lost in race for university places
Allerton Grange students Corrine Lancaster, Sarah Qasim, Laura Watson celebrate their A-Level results.
Susan Press looks at the last-minute panic over university places as students try to escape soaring tuition fees in 2012.
A major teaching union is warning Government policy on higher education could lead to a “lost generation” of A-Level students.
University admissions body UCAS has predicted more than 200,000 students with the necessary grades will fail to win a place as application numbers surge. This is the last year students can pay £3,000 a year tuition fees as from 2012 they will increase to around £9,000 annually.
Concerned activists and educationalists are now calling for the Government to improve prospects for thousands of students by reversing their decision to slash funding to universities.
Malcolm StJohn-Smith, a leading member of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, taught for 30 years at the Quaker-run Ackworth School in Pontefract.
Talking ahead of today’s A-level results, the Wakefield-based chairman of the ATL’s Independent and Private Sector Advisory group, said:
“We are creating a lost generation of young people who are going to come out of university with no prospects and no money because they will be so deeply in debt.
“This year, we have lost the Education Maintenance Allowance, the careers service has been dismantled because of cuts and the reality is that students are already working all the hours God sends because they are so worried.
“It is deeply sad because if they don’t get in this year, they will be under even more financial pressure.
“One in 10 students is expected to get top A-Level grades this week but just look at what there is out there for them.”
Dr Mary Bousted, the ATL’s general secretary, said: “How will the Government justify why thousands of students with outstanding grades will have to pay three times as much as their classmates if they can’t get a university place until next year?
“We need the Government to help us develop a system that helps every student develop the skills they need for life so they can achieve their potential.
“Government policies over the last 15 months have actively put this at risk.”
Last year in the UK, 697,351 students applied through UCAS to university and 487,329 were accepted.
According to the latest statistics, students in 2012 will face an average £56,000 debt on graduation, compared with around £27,000 if they started in 2011.
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Saturday 26 May 2012
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