Do university tuition fees deter the poorest?

Might be a good moment to remind readers of number 200-something in my series of Questions to Which the Answer is No, which was asked by Stephen Tall at Liberal Democrat Voice more than a year ago.

He referred to a report in The Independent of research by the Higher Education Funding Council for England:

In 1996, about 13.5 per cent of young adults from the poorest British households made it to university by age 19. That figure has reached 18.5 per cent.

That is an increase of 37 per cent. But there is more recent HEFCE research, published in January this year, to the findings of which Peter Wilby referred in an excellent article in The Guardian today. It suggests:

The proportion of young people living in the most disadvantaged areas who enter higher education has increased by around … 50 per cent over the past 15 years … The proportion of young people from the most advantaged areas who enter higher education has also increased typically by … 15 per cent over the past 15 years.

Update: Ought to say that the figures do not, of course, prove that fees are not a deterrent, because we do not know what would have happened in their absence. But that participation has increased more among young people from disadvantaged areas suggests that, if there is a disincentive effect, it has not prevented university entrance becoming more equal.

Picture: Nick Clegg (wrong then; right now)

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