Lifting the Cap

Many of you will have seen the news today about the BBC's anonymous survey of vice-chancellors from across the country showing the VCs being in favour of lifting the cap on tuition fees. The thing that struck me as interesting from the BBC's article on it was this:

"More students than ever are living at home while at university - with surveys suggesting that perhaps a fifth of students continue to live with their parents.

This in turn means that more students, particularly from less well-off families, are choosing from universities close to where they live"

As our uni currently has a home student population of around 30%, the increase in tuition fees could result in more students staying in the Midlands and coming to Birmingham. As the BBC point out, those from poorer backgrounds will be forced to choose from the universities closest to them, which is why home students in the West Midlands are lucky that we have such good universities on our doorstep to choose from in Birmingham and Warwick.