January and February statistics from UCAS, the universities admissions service, suggest that MPs should spread their interest and concerns more widely. The 15 January UCAS date is the deadline for applicants to be considered on an equal basis for admission to university and is not the deadline for applications to university in 2012. It is well-known that many would-be older students will apply much later and some will wait for the outcome of access-to-HE courses where results are only known in late August. Other mature students will be more interested in studying part-time and will apply direct to a university rather than via the UCAS system.

Decline in applications UCAS does not break down the application figures by UK country and age but the January statistics reveal an overall 11 per cent decline in applications from mature students who want to study full-time compared to January 2011. This has to be set against an overall 6.5 per cent decline in applications from younger students. UCAS also suggested that there was a greater decline in applicants from advantaged, compared to disadvantaged, backgrounds. This is a somewhat doubtful conclusion. The UCAS analysis is based on application trends linked with local government wards – a relatively crude measure of disadvantage. In fact the UCAS ‘deprivation’ analysis is only for 18-year- old students. This group now makes up fewer than half of all university applicants, and experienced a far smaller fall in applications than others did. Applications from 18-year- olds fell 2.6 per cent year on year, versus 12.6 per cent for 19-year-olds and 11.4 per cent for those aged 20. Applications from those aged 25 or over fell by over 10 per cent. The February UCAS statistics confirm the January trends. In reality, the impact of the new 2012 fees and funding regime in England will not be known until enrolments have been analysed in 2013. However, the decline in applications by mature students rather than the appointment of Les Ebdon as Director of OFFA should be ringing alarm bells among MPs and ministers. Mature students often come from more disadvantaged backgrounds. Any decline in the number of mature students studying at university is likely to undermine rather than enhance social mobility. This is why million+ and the National Union of Students have called on ministers to devote more resources to ensure that older prospective students are aware that they do not have to pay fees upfront.

Million+ and the NUS are also engaged in a mature students project, the results of which will be published in May this year. Currently, 4,000 responses from mature HE students are being analysed and a series of workshops are being held in universities in England and Scotland. Early survey results provide further food for thought for those who, along with NIACE, have raised concerns about the Westminster government’s decision to withdraw all public funding from Level 3 courses for those aged over 24 (see http://shop.niace.org. uk/adults-learning-extra.html). From 2013–14, these adults will be faced with paying much higher fees upfront or taking out a further education fee loan on the same terms as that offered in HE. Around 62 per cent of respondents to the million+/NUS mature students survey have said that Level 3 qualifications were their highest qualifications before starting their university course. Interestingly, around 65 per cent of all respondents (i.e. those with Level 2 and Foundation Degrees as well as Level 3 qualifications) have indicated that they started studying for their highest pre-entry qualification when they were over the age of 24. This suggests that significant numbers of mature students in England will have to be prepared to incur an FE fee loan plus an HE fee loan if they wish to progress to university in the future. At a time when demand from mature HE students appears to have been undermined by the new fees regime, many will inevitably ask whether the use of FE fee loans to replace funding for Level 3 qualifications is the best way of ensuring that university is not just for young people. Unlike HE fee loans, FE loans will have an overall cash limit rather than be governed by student number controls. No- one knows what will happen if, and when, the money is used up. For its part, the High Court has recently deemed that the Westminster government did not pay ‘due regard’ to the promotion of opportunity as required under the equality legislation prior to introducing the 2012 HE fees regime. It remains to be seen whether the FE loan policy will be subject to, and will pass, a similar judicial test in terms of age and other equality factors.

Pam Tatlow is Chief Executive of the university think-tank million+. The million+/NUS mature students report will be launched at the House of Commons in May 2012: www.millionplus.ac.uk.

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