Blackburn comments on drop in applications from 18-year-olds living in disadvantaged areas in Scotland revealed by UCAS data

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CREID's research on free fee policy in Scottish higher education continues to generate discussions in several media outlets following a recent release of UCAS figures which revealed a drop in application rates from 18-year-olds living in disadvantaged areas in Scotland.

Lucy Hunter Blackburn, one of our consultants and an ESRC-funded PhD student at our University, told CommonSpace (6th February 2018) that although the year-on-year figures deserve of attention, they are less important than trends over longer periods of time.

Meanwhile, while commenting on the influence of Lord Andrew Adonis who favoured the abolition of tuition fees, columnist Chris Deerin used Lucy's research evidence in the Herald Scotland (6th February 2018) to argue that Lord Adonis' idea of outright abolition of tuitions in Scotland was wrong. Deerin noted the no-fee policy plus the heavily reduced grants suggests that students from poorer backgrounds are leaving university with giant debts while those from better-off backgrounds who have been financially supported by their parents emerge relatively unscathed.

Lucy's research on the same topic was also picked up by Kaye Adams in her morning phone-in show 'Call Kaye' on BBC Radio Scotland (7th February 2018).

These two articles can be viewed via the following links:

• CommonSpace (Alasdair Clark, 6 February 2018). Analysis: New data shows decline in poorest students applying for university
• The Herald Scotland (Chris Deerin, 6 February 2018). Chris Deerin: Why abolishing tuition fees is tokenistic, feel-good rubbish

Blackburn's research on tuition fees can be found on her own blog 'Adventures in Evidence' and on the following websites of our projects.