The low number of young people from socially disadvantaged families reaching higher education is due to poorer school performance rather than to any systematic bias in university admissions. But research for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation suggests that even when they hold the right qualifications, students from low-income backgrounds tend to enrol for less prestigious universities and courses than their middle-class peers.
The study by researchers at the University of Glasgow highlights three principle ways in which financial and other pressures push disadvantaged young people towards shorter courses and less-advanced qualifications:
Researchers Alasdair Forsyth and Andy Furlong followed the fortunes of more than 500 young people aged 17 in Scotland. All attended schools with a record of sending fewer-than-average leavers into higher education. They found that qualifications gained at school primarily determined whether students entered higher education. However, the likelihood of obtaining qualifications was, itself, linked to social and economic status.
Many of the least affluent young people in each neighbourhood had left school at 16. And about half the remaining students were the ‘relatively advantaged’ children of skilled workers such as nurses and primary school teachers
Nine months after the young people had left school, the study found that those from the most socially disadvantaged backgrounds were less likely to be studying for a degree at an ‘Ivy League’ university, such as St Andrews or Durham. They were also more likely to be studying for vocational and other non-degree qualifications that related to a specific job, such as nursing.
The costs of higher education, especially the prospect of debts run up through student loans, were a major influence on type and length of course that disadvantaged young people chose to pursue. However, the abolition of up-front tuition fees in Scotland was not likely to make much difference to students from low-income families because their fees were already paid by an awards agency.
Prof. Andy Furlong said: “This survey confirms that disadvantaged young people are not enjoying an equal level of participation in higher education as their more advantaged peers. However, the evidence also points towards policies that focus on improving school achievement rather than university entrance policies.
“It also suggests that a system of ‘quota’ places at prestigious universities for pupils from schools in deprived areas would only benefit the more advantaged pupils who attend them. Non-repayable bursaries and help with housing and travel costs might be a better way of ensuring that financial and other barriers do not prevent qualified young people from reaching their full potential in higher education.”
