Uni students lured by £700 ‘refer a friend’ ploy

UNDERGRADUATES are being offered hundreds of pounds to refer friends to their university in a ‘cynical’ ploy to boost income from tuition fees.

The marketing strategy is already commonly used to boost the sales of cable television, mobile phones and even grocery deliveries.

Now students are being offered deals worth up to £700 to recruit friends to degree courses. But critics say the schemes are part of a ‘money mad’ culture in which highly rewarded vice-chancellors are resorting to ever more extreme tactics to boost revenues from £9,000-a-year tuition fees.

The news comes just days before hundreds of thousands of teenagers receive their A-level results. Typical of those offering the scheme is Bolton University, which says on its website: ‘For every friend you refer that is accepted on to a full-time undergraduate degree… we will reward you and your friend with gift vouchers worth £150 each!’

Even more generous is Northumbria, whose scheme for international students promises the student who recommended a friend £200, while the new recruit gets £500. At least 11 other universities or business schools across the UK are advertising similar tactics, with rewards of up to £500.

Former government adviser Chris McGovern, of the Campaign for Real Education, said they were proof of ‘how low universities will stoop to lure teenagers, many of whom will end up wasting three years and building up large debts for little gain. This is a cynical and self-interested racket.’

Defending its stance, Bolton University said educational opportunities should not be confined to an elite.

Northumbria, whose vicechancellor’s remuneration in 201415 totalled just over £300,000, said the scheme was to thank students for ‘acting as ambassadors’.