Why Rich Kids Are More Likely To Get Into University
The Institue of Fiscal Studies is set to give a report next week on the causes of inequality in higher education and how to increase accessibility.
I haven’t seen the complete report but I did, however, find a Powerpoint presentation given by an Institute of Fiscal Studies researcher back in December 2008 that revealed a few very interesting facts – some obvious, some less so – with regards to higher education acessibility and funding, and which seem to form the main basis the Institute’s coming report (well, according to the coverage it’s had in the Mail, anyway).
Basically the report reveals that richer students are more likely to go to university than poorer ones. A lot more likely. Nearly half of the richest section of the population go to university, while only 15% of poorest section do.
This, however, is only because more richer students get good results than do poorer students.
A poor kid with good a-levels is just as likely to go to university as a rich kid. Unfortunately, 25% of rich kids get ‘top’ a-levels and just 3% of poor kids do. And, lo, there are more rich kids in universities.
Thus the answer to improving access to higher education is not to reduce tuition fees, but to improve secondary schools. The Daily Mail put it differently:
The working class children betrayed by Labour: Bad schools NOT class bias to blame for thousands missing university
And for once, it may have a point…
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