Over the past year, the number of disadvantaged students applying to the most elite universities across the UK has increased highly. Evidence of this can be seen through various sources such as the Universities and College Admissions Service, also known as UCAS, which provides evidence suggesting that the number of disadvantaged students applying has increased by 7% from last year whilst there has only been a 2% increase in applications from more advantaged students.
So, is this rise in applications welcomed or discouraged? Sir Peter Lampl, the founder and chairman of the Sutton Trust encourages the rise in applications. He quoted, “they have to borrow more than well-off students just to live on, resulting in them graduating with higher levels of debt which is both shameful and hugely unfair,” Lampl’s statement suggests the unfairness within the education system and how it caters to advantaged students therefore the perseverance against this unfair system from disadvantaged students is supported by him. Lampl also emphasises the struggle disadvantaged students face at university itself, describing it as an “uphill struggle”
Disadvantaged students at university struggle with a variety of things such as financial burdens of tuition fees, accommodation costs, transport costs, and living expenses. Therefore despite the struggles, they are still applying to top their universities. However, these struggles often internally discourage and cause problems to these applications therefore applications from higher ranking groups is almost 5 times more than applications from disadvantaged groups suggesting it has not fully shifted yet. Universities attracting disadvantaged groups most are some of the most elite such as Oxford and Cambridge specialising in courses such as medicine, dentistry and veterinary science.