Maldon: Headteacher expects university application drop to continue (From Maldon and Burnham Standard)

Maldon: Headteacher expects university application drop to continue

5:00pm Wednesday 22nd August 2012 in News

Fewer A-level pupils have opted to continue their studies at university this year, and Plume School’s headteacher expects that trend to continue.

Students starting university for the first time in September will be the first to pay up to £9,000 a year for a degree and it appears that, like thousands across the country, many in the district are intent on avoiding the tuition fee hike.

At Maldon’s Plume School, university applications were down 37 per cent from the record 111 applicants last year to 74.
 

Headteacher David Stephenson was unsurprised.
 

He said: “In the past it was a no brainer, but now it’s a really hard choice for a lot of young people.
 

“Do they go to uni when often the graduates struggle to find jobs or do they take an opportunity of paid work or training?
 

“Now if you’re a uni graduate you are trying to get a job that traditionally would have gone to an A-Level student.

“I think that situation is going to be more and more problematic.”
 

The drop in the number of students going on to higher education is likely to see a soar in the number of applicants for A-level entry jobs.