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Research undertaken by ComRes has revealed that 10% of potential university students have definitely been put off going to university because of the increased tuition fees. These students have been priced out of further education as a result of lifting the cap on to £9,000 per year. Elsewhere, figures released by UCAS today show that university applications from UK students have fallen by 12% from 59,413 to 52,231. A clear demonstration of a failure in policy from the coalition government. Sally Hunt from the University and College Union lambasted the government tuition fee policy, she said:

“The government’s fees policy has been a disaster from the start and it is clearly having a serious impact on the choices young people make. Now is the time for a rethink to avoid doing serious damage to universities and young people’s futures. People should study the right course for them, not just the cheapest one or none at all. These depressing figures take us back to the time when it was cost, not ability, that determined your future.”

The poll of 1,009 16-18 year old A-Level students from England revealed that 82% of respondents were still intent on going to university despite almost half of all those interviewed feeling that the financial burden of university was too great.

The research would seem to suggest that a large reason behind those polled still intending on going to university in spite of higher fees is because of the better job opportunities. 73% felt that it would be easier getting a job as a university graduate even with almost 1 million 16-24 year olds out of work. Despite this, 78% were still really worried about gaining a large amount of debt given the tight jobs market.

Many students will hope that at the end of a three year degree the economy and in particular the graduate jobs market will look far more rosy than it currently does.