Fall in Sussex university applications

4:30pm Tuesday 10th July 2012 in News By William Metcalfe

The number of students applying for a place at university in Sussex has fallen.

The University of Sussex has seen a reduction of 6.4 per cent, the University of Brighton has seen a 15 per cent decrease and the University of Chichester has had a fall of 21 per cent.

Figures released by UCAS show a national decrease of 10 per cent across England.

From September, tuition fees for English universities are due to triple to a maximum of £9,000.

Education experts have previously predicted the fee hike could impact on application numbers.

Last night university officials admitted the fall was likely to be caused by students believing they cannot afford to continue studying.

A spokesman for the University of Brighton said: “We have received more than 30,000 applications for the 4,500 places we have available and more applications are being received each day.

“This does represent a reduction in applications but the number received to date is similar to that achieved three years ago.

“The main reason for the reduction, we believe, is the change to the fees structure which has made higher education appear difficult to afford for some people.”

A spokeswoman for the University of Sussex said despite the reduction in applicants from 2011, the total was still higher than in previous years.

She said: “The slight decline this year follows substantial increases in applications in recent years and the current application numbers are actually up 13 per cent against two years ago and 44 per cent against three years ago.

“We believe the excellent courses and facilities offered by Sussex, the calibre of its research staff and attractiveness of its location continue to appeal to students looking for the best experience available and that our application figures continue to reflect this situation.”

Comments(17)

Spanners says...
5:01pm Tue 10 Jul 12

“The main reason for the reduction, we believe, is the change to the fees structure which has made higher education appear difficult to afford for some people.”

Makes me so angry ! "appear" bl00dy hellfire it does not appear difficult to afford - it simply IS difficult to afford. More than that its impossible for many - 9 grand plus living expenses.

Its used to be that if you were born in the gutter you could get an education, work hard and get a way out. Not any more. Cameron et al want you to stay right where you are. Education is for the rich not the unwashed masses

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george smith says...
5:04pm Tue 10 Jul 12

Neither university is Russell group, why would you want to pay nine grand a year for what is really a rebranded poly. At least some must be intelligent, that this is not rally the answer.

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longman says...
5:18pm Tue 10 Jul 12

1. Get over yourselves regarding 're-branded polys'. There was nothing wrong with polytechnics before the change to universities. There were a large number that had a better reputation than 'normal' universities. For example, Nottingham Trent university is in the top 50! Russell Group universities are not all they are cracked up to be. Some courses offered through Oxbridge are not as good as those offered in other universities. It is down to snobbery!
2. Those students who are going to university for the first time will be paying up to £9,000 for their courses, BUT they wont need to start paying back UNTIL they are earning AT LEAST £21,000. How do I know, because I take notice of the information provided and I have a young person who is going to university this coming September! It is scaremongering and lack of research that is putting young people off applying, pure and simple!

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sbiscorrupt says...
5:47pm Tue 10 Jul 12

longman wrote:
1. Get over yourselves regarding 're-branded polys'. There was nothing wrong with polytechnics before the change to universities. There were a large number that had a better reputation than 'normal' universities. For example, Nottingham Trent university is in the top 50! Russell Group universities are not all they are cracked up to be. Some courses offered through Oxbridge are not as good as those offered in other universities. It is down to snobbery!
2. Those students who are going to university for the first time will be paying up to £9,000 for their courses, BUT they wont need to start paying back UNTIL they are earning AT LEAST £21,000. How do I know, because I take notice of the information provided and I have a young person who is going to university this coming September! It is scaremongering and lack of research that is putting young people off applying, pure and simple!
Pity then that you have been sucked in by the propaganda...

Have a look at the figures, and you will find that as your 'young person' earns more he/she will pay more...

Fair enough you may say, but have you looked at the escalating interest rates yet?

If someone earns average graduate pay (when coming out of university) and then that pay increases on that same average basis, your 'young person' will end up paying (on average) over their working lifetime about £155k for an education that the people imposing this got for free!

Still, I bet you'll be proud that your 'young person' will be better educated than you!!!

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Mrs Grump says...
6:52pm Tue 10 Jul 12

For many residents this news along with more accommodation being built on site should bring about less concentrations of student houses. Hopefully with residents who understand how to put away their bins and not leave overflowing recycling bins on the pavement for others to trip over. Not sure if the impact of fees is so high how these are full of empties each week. Sorry to all the considerate students out there but anyone whomhas driven up Coombes road knows just what I mean. Perhaps with more long term residents we can get back to a city with a balanced population. Roll on more reductions in numbers.

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Mrs Grump says...
6:52pm Tue 10 Jul 12

For many residents this news along with more accommodation being built on site should bring about less concentrations of student houses. Hopefully with residents who understand how to put away their bins and not leave overflowing recycling bins on the pavement for others to trip over. Not sure if the impact of fees is so high how these are full of empties each week. Sorry to all the considerate students out there but anyone whomhas driven up Coombes road knows just what I mean. Perhaps with more long term residents we can get back to a city with a balanced population. Roll on more reductions in numbers.

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Spx says...
7:45pm Tue 10 Jul 12

There's nowhere to park!

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Aspect8 says...
8:02pm Tue 10 Jul 12

Young people have been robbed of a future by this government. The hike in tuition fee's is discouraging some people from higher education, and will continue to do so. These young people are capable of achieving great things, yet they're not being given the chance now because of the debt they will have, and lets face it are some of these courses really worth £9,000 a year?.....most definitely not! But lets no forget it was the Labour government who introduced tuition fee's in the first place. I've had enough of all 3 main political parties, used to be Tory but not anymore. UKIP all the way!

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Morpheus says...
8:06pm Tue 10 Jul 12

Spanners wrote:
“The main reason for the reduction, we believe, is the change to the fees structure which has made higher education appear difficult to afford for some people.”

Makes me so angry ! "appear" bl00dy hellfire it does not appear difficult to afford - it simply IS difficult to afford. More than that its impossible for many - 9 grand plus living expenses.

Its used to be that if you were born in the gutter you could get an education, work hard and get a way out. Not any more. Cameron et al want you to stay right where you are. Education is for the rich not the unwashed masses
It isn't, it is because students are looking at the value and quality of the courses and rejecting those that are overpriced.

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getThisCoalitionOut says...
8:50pm Tue 10 Jul 12

This current government is destroying our country bit by bit but tuition fees were started off by Labour and I also will never vote for any of the big 3 parties again - they have shown themselves to be nothing but corrupt all the way.
Look at how Labour made it possible for more tax evasion which is costing this country very dear - we wouldn't have cutbacks if the big companies paid their proper taxes.
Every young person should be able to go to uni if they want to but this rotten gov' has made sure it's virtually impossible as you'll never be able to afford to live on top of paying these enormous costs back.

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chilliman says...
8:57pm Tue 10 Jul 12

The problem nowadays is that every young person believes it is their right to get a degree in whatever useless subject they choose, and then to walk into a £50k pa job at the age of 21 with no experience let alone being able spell, add up or even speak coherently.

That mindset was instilled by the last labour government who then opened our borders to every EU national who wished to come in and take the everyday jobs that our young people considered beneath them - construction, service industries, etc.

The increase in fees might have the side effect of making some of the UK youth a bit more interested in getting a job and working their way to the top. Unfortunately I suspect it will take a generation or more to see the light and the benefits system will take a battering until then..

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Maxwell's Ghost says...
12:26am Wed 11 Jul 12

Labour destroyed the education system by enabling any fee paying person access to university devaluing degree courses. Then we had further education colleges becoming universities and courses which were once BTec courses and were free to kids of 16-18 became three year degree courses which kids had to pay for after 18, many of which were hobby courses not courses which lead to employment.
What has happened now is that young people can now see that £9,000 pa for a film studies course is a bloody expensive hobby, however £9,000 a year for a degree which leads to a profession is good value.
I hope that we get a better, more focused type of student that we can share our communities with studious students instead of the low IQ, socially unaware, chavvy, rough kids we've put up with in our community who have wreaked absolute havoc for a decade.
There is a massive cultural change underway among young people's attitude to attending uni and perhaps many of the student dumps in the city will return to family homes now the unis are providing more accommodation.

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Athena says...
1:06am Wed 11 Jul 12

Tuition fees were introduced by Labour in 1998 and the Browne Review was set up by Labour before they fell from power. This massive hike in fees was brought in by the last Labour government, not the present government. Don't blame Cameron. He inherited a load of foolish errors by Labour.

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george smith says...
6:21am Wed 11 Jul 12

Maxwell's Ghost wrote:
Labour destroyed the education system by enabling any fee paying person access to university devaluing degree courses. Then we had further education colleges becoming universities and courses which were once BTec courses and were free to kids of 16-18 became three year degree courses which kids had to pay for after 18, many of which were hobby courses not courses which lead to employment. What has happened now is that young people can now see that £9,000 pa for a film studies course is a bloody expensive hobby, however £9,000 a year for a degree which leads to a profession is good value. I hope that we get a better, more focused type of student that we can share our communities with studious students instead of the low IQ, socially unaware, chavvy, rough kids we've put up with in our community who have wreaked absolute havoc for a decade. There is a massive cultural change underway among young people's attitude to attending uni and perhaps many of the student dumps in the city will return to family homes now the unis are providing more accommodation.
Unfortunetly, the more intelligent will see it is not the way foward and get a job. The really thick ones that aren't employable will continue to do media study courses because they think they are so brilliant they will chair the one show. They will not want the rules and regs of Halls so will continue to blight our neighbourhoods

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Maxwell's Ghost says...
8:37am Wed 11 Jul 12

I have to say George that many of my friends have children who aren't very bright and none of them are going to uni in September whereas a few years back their siblings were even though they would not have been bright enough to get A levels 20 years ago.
All teenagers I know are now looking at apprenticeships.
If Brighton unis applications are down 15 per cent in a year the likelihood is that this cultural change will continue and the prediction is between a 25 and 30 per cent drop. That will mean fewer students in the city and unis having to offer a fee/accommodation package to attract students and the colleges are already building hundreds more units for the kids so there will be fewer in private homes.
Also with the new licensing coming in this year there are standards of behaviour included so we will have the power to make landlords deal with their tenants behaviour.
The era of homes being occupied by teenagers away from home for the first time causing absolute mayhem is over. Study, keep quiet, respect your neighbours or you have to go.
The silly unis have done little to
Manage their reputations or students.

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Athena says...
12:25pm Wed 11 Jul 12

I'm not so sure there will be a reduction of students as a result, Maxwell. I rather suspect we will have even more students from abroad. The universities need to raise revenue, sell off some of their assets, or close down.

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Maxwell's Ghost says...
2:05pm Wed 11 Jul 12

Athena it's much cheaper to study in Europe and many British students are heading into the EU.
And if you read the story already applications are down 15 per
Cent without a corresponding increase from overseas students.
UK colleges will have to re invent themselves and offer study/accommodation packages
To survive.

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