Nine thousand pound fallacy

### Lucy Stanford

**There was a time when some of my friends genuinely believed that they would have to pay £9,000 upfront and from their own pocket if they wanted to go to university. Since the ‘fees fiasco,’ during which the government did not successfully explain its fees policy, papers still talk about how students will have to ‘shell out’ up to £9,000 per year.**

It’s easy to see why some people are still under the impression that university is unaffordable. The rise in tuition fees has again been blamed for the recent drop in university applications. However, the focus on the cost of fees is detracting attention from the real factors that affect people’s decisions to apply to university. The media are presenting misleading views of fees and the implications of university costs for students, which are then reiterated by many schools.

Firstly, the media’s obsession with rising fees means the financial help that is readily available for students from disadvantaged backgrounds is completely overlooked. Most universities in the UK give generous financial support to students from low income households, and have increased their range of bursaries since the rise in fees. At Warwick, you can receive up to £2,500 per year to help with maintenance and this won’t have to be repaid. So even with increased fees the poorest can go to university. How often is this mentioned by the media?

A lack of encouragement to go to university is much more influential than concerns about tuition fees. The Sutton Trust, a charity which aims to promote social mobility through education, recently published a report that concluded that one of the main reasons that some state school pupils prefer to aim low and apply for less prestigious universities is their lack of confidence. This is likely to be the same reason some young people choose not to apply to university altogether.

Going to university is a hard decision, especially for those who would be the first in their family to do so, and some may need that little bit extra motivation. If parents, and most vitally, schools fail to encourage a student to aim high, they may just settle for a career or study route which does not require a degree.

At the same time the impact of the lack of advice on people’s decision to go to university must be dealt with. As I said before, there is an absence of advice in schools about the true costs of a university education. There needs to be information early on about fees, bursaries and repayments so students can consider all their options from the start.

In addition, the general benefits of higher education need to be highlighted, as the negative press surrounding the costs of degrees suggests they’re not as useful as they actually are. Universities and schools need to show how studying for a degree will improve your employability and will be a positive experience. The point that should be made is that a degree widens your choice of careers.

Still, it’s not enough to just look the role of schools – difficulty gaining work experience may affect people’s career aspirations – and in turn their choice of whether to study at university. Having a degree but little work experience can be a real barrier to employment. Yet, many forms of work experience are not easily in the reach of many students.

I often wonder if I will ever gain enough experience for an ideal job, as most of the opportunities available in international and non-governmental organisations are unpaid internships and based in London, something I could not afford to do without doing paid work at the same time.

I am not saying that we shouldn’t condemn the rise in tuition fees. The ‘9,000’ figure will appear really daunting to students, and rightly so. Fees remain too high to justify. Information and encouragement are central to making the decision to go to university.
Access to university needs to be widened further; schools, with the support of the media, must push for this.

After all, it’s not like the government will do anything about it out of their own goodwill.