Fees, debt and the attitudes of young people to higher education

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Fees, debt and the attitudes of young people to
higher education
Judith Watson and Andrew Church School of the
Environment University of Brighton
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Higher Education Aspirations

• Funded by National Union of Students
• December 2002 Survey of 1,018 14 and 15 year olds
  in 9 Schools
• June 2003 Focus Groups
• Interim report March 2003
• Stop Frightening Students Margaret Hodge, March
  2003

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GCSE Results by Schools 2002
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Cultural background by School
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Socio-economic origin by school
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GCSE Expectation by School
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Post-compulsory intentions
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Post-compulsory intention by cultural background
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Aspirations for higher education before age 30
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Higher education aspiration by GCSE expectation
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Tuition fee tolerance for those likely to enter
HE the convinced pupils
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Debt tolerance for those likely to enter HE the
convinced pupils
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Savings from work
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Emerging conclusions

• University aspirations - often amongst those
  unlikely to obtain GCSE grades
• Concerns over LEVEL of debt and fees
• Focus groups
• Most debt averse already not planning to go
• Optimistic but concerned about paying off debt
• Concern over pressures on parents
• But parental financial help will be key and
  expected by some respondents