Tight squeeze on university places to hit poor hardest

HIGH grades in your A-level examinations will no longer guarantee a university place this year as competition among home students increases, a professor of social mobility has warned.

Lee Elliot Major, of Exeter University, told The Daily Telegraph that an unprecedented number of students with high grades could miss out on their first choice as they face “the most highly competitive race” for university places in living memory.

The “days of universities fighting over students are over” due to a rising number of applicants and a limited supply of quality apprenticeships, he said.

There will also be an “effective cap” on home student places as universities are incentivised to prioritise overseas student fee income which can rise to help cover rising costs, he said.

The prestigious Russell Group of universities says they make an average loss of £1,750 for teaching home students because of frozen tuition fees and rising teaching costs. “I think certainly those students with [A-level] grades in the As and Bs aren’t necessarily going to be guaranteed getting their first choice,” Prof Elliot Major said.

He will raise concerns about the impact of the increased competition on poorer students at the Forum for Access and Continuing Education conference at the University of Southampton today.

He said: “My biggest fear is that poorer students, already disproportionately scarred by the pandemic, may lose out in this new highly competitive era not just this year but over the next decade.”

More than 10,000 applicants with predicted grades of BBB are not holding a firm offer at any university, according to Andrew Hargreaves, a former director at the Ucas admissions service and founder of Data He, a consulting firm which advises universities on using data.

He said it was likely that students without a firm offer had applied for competitive universities or courses such as medicine. “There are lots of really great universities with places but we have a societal bent towards the high-tariff universities,” he said.

Clare Marchant, chief executive of Ucas, said: “This year we are seeing record applications as well as the highest number of students having accepted an offer. We predict record numbers of students will get their firm choice this year.”

However, she said that Ucas expects a rise in the number of applicants – in part due to the growing number of 18-year-olds in the UK population – will result in “a more competitive environment for years to come”.