Record fall in Scottish university entries

Recently published figures bring stark evidence of the consternation caused by a potential rise of university costs. Scotland shows the biggest fall in university applications in more than 30 years, with a decrease of 11.8% compared to last year’s level, according to UCAS. Some schools report teenagers from poorer families are proving more hesitant about applying than middle-class pupils. Ministers who claim their finance package is designed to favour the least well off may have to think again.

Sarah Thwaites, Deputy Chief Executive of Financial Skills Partnership (FSK), said, “Young people in Scotland may see apprenticeships as an attractive option due to rising university costs.’ She admitted, however, that ‘Young people are confused as to where to start to find out about opportunities.’ For this reason, the FSK has recently launched a Directions portal that ‘enables young people in Scotland to obtain first-hand experience of the world of work in financial services, accountancy and finance.’

We don’t know how useful this will turn out to be in practice, but it could be worth a look. Meanwhile, keep protesting about the scandalous over-pricing of university education.