Are we the forgotten freshers?

It would be easy to assume that with the introduction of higher tuition fees next academic year, we freshers of 2011-12 are the lucky ones. We got in there early, amidst the unprecedented increase in applications and mad scramble for places. Indeed, The Independent has estimated that 170,000 would-be students failed to get a university place. This is no wonder, when UCAS estimated that 9,000 more students were competing for the same number of places at universities that were being offered in 2010. I was part of this scramble myself. ‘Get to uni this year’, I said to myself. ‘Avoid the fees’- it seemed a no-brainer. As one of these ‘lucky’ freshers, gaining a university place at the lower fee level, I’d argue, however,that in some ways we’ve missed out.

In the first place, a gap year was rendered almost impossible for the vast majority of students in my year and would, arguably, have rivaled some of the worst financial decisions ever made. Deferring entry to higher education would have meant forfeiting the opportunity to do the same course at the current fee levels, thus avoiding paying the £9000 fees. The Guardian estimated in August 2011 that the number of students deferring applications has dropped from 16,000 in 2010 to less than 6,000 for those in the academic year of the current freshers. Many lost out on first choice options and the chance of deferred entry.

Some would argue the death of the highly controversial ‘gap yah’ is a blessing in disguise for those in my academic year, and that the fewer British teenagers aimlessly backpacking around Thailand, the better. Yet, I can’t quite agree that this is the case. Huge numbers of students will undoubtedly have been planning gap years that would have been highly beneficial to their chosen degrees. I don’t think my planned year as an au-pair in Germany would have been entirely detrimental to my compulsory language module. In this respect, we’ve missed out because of the fee increases.

We’ve been forgotten in more ways that just the gap year. Large numbers of tutors have been sent off on sabbatical leave for this academic year, in order to return to teach next year’s more economically valuable students/customers. Consequently, a significant proportion of modules have not been offered this academic year, something that certainly wasn’t mentioned at various open days. It appears increasingly possible that we freshers really are just guinea pigs for new methods of assessment, such as online portfolios, that won’t be fully introduced until next year’s students arrive. In time for the students who are really worth it.

Even the on-campus accommodation is being given a new lease of life. Many are set to be refurbished and at least be given a fresh coat of paint in time for next year’s higher-fee paying students. Campus wireless is finally being introduced for next academic year, much to the glee of many a discontented Rootes resident. At the very least for next year’s freshers, paying higher tuition fees will bring the benefit of watching TOWIE and X Factor from the comfort of your own bed. If that’s not £9000 well spent, I’m not sure what is.

In many respects, though, we are the lucky year. We get to study the same course, at the same university for much less than half price that next year’s freshers will pay. But are we really getting a bargain? Or have we been forgotten as the last year of an old system, whose quality of degree can be sacrificed in order to prepare for those who will get what they pay for?

Universities face fines for deliberate over-recruitment, perhaps an admission on the part of the government that such large intakes of students have been detrimental to the quality of degrees on offer. The Independent has estimated that some institutions have gone as far as recruiting 25,000 students over and above their targets. Universities therefore face potential fines of over £90m. Deliberate over-recruitment will come at a steep price for these universties, with David Willetts warning of potential fines of £3,700 for every student that exceeds the target figure.

Perhaps the courses this year’s freshers are receiving are the university equivalent of that dress for £9.99 on the final reductions rail. On paper, it’s a bargain. In reality, it’s covered in makeup and is already ripped, trampled on by hoards of sale customers before you.