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Student debt grossly underestimated

Mon, 24 Jul 2006
The number of UK students starting at university courses in the UK originally students at state schools fell in 2004 to 2005, according to latest figures. In 2005, the percentage of students in full-time first degrees was 86.7%. This is 0.1% lower than 2004. This also happened to be down from the previous year. The number of students applying from poorer homes was also down, and the Government cited this as disappointing.

However, student applications for university courses starting this September, when tuition fees go up, was also down, by just over 3%.

The NUS vice-president, Wes Streeting said that the number of students at university from lower economic groups will remain low. Research from the Higher Education Statistics Agency showed that the number of students from poorer backgrounds fell by 0.4%.

Education Ministers said that the drop in student applications was deeply disappointing and that the government is strongly determined to do all that is possible to widen participation from students.