Government Urged To Give Students A Free Year At University

Fri, 21 May 2010

Poor students should be given a free first year at university to encourage them to enter higher education, according to a new report by educational charity Sutton Trust.

In its second submission to the independent review of student funding, the Trust said that the government should pilot a scheme to give the students from low-income families a "first year for free".

It claims that a free first year would "alleviate some of the risk and uncertainty that deter non-privileged students from applying to certain courses and institutions".

The Trust also called for the creation of a "bounty fund" to reward universities in England for making an extra effort to take on teenagers from poorer homes .

It said it recognises that universities need extra funding to provide more student places, and that the most "realistic" way of doing this is by increasing the cap on tuition fees and introducing a real rate of interest on student loans .

But it warned that any move to raise tuition fees must not result in the poorest teenagers missing out on higher education .

A report released earlier this week by the Office for Fair Access (Offa) - the agency in charge of widening access to higher education - said that youngsters from wealthy homes were seven times more likely to go to England's top universities than those from disadvantaged backgrounds.
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