Families may cross the borders in order to avoid rising tuition fees
The pinch on family finances creeps into all aspects of daily life and sometimes has longer-reaching implications than is first realised. While it may be considered a hardship to have to cut back on food, turn down the central heating to save a few pounds on energy bills or walk to work or school instead of using the car, for some the current hardships threaten to affect the rest of their lives.
University education has, over recent years, become more the norm than the exception. A degree can make all the difference to a job seeker applying for management positions or more skilled areas of work. It's the difference between steadily climbing the financial ladder and staying permanently on the first rung. Recent increases in the university course fees have put many families in the position of having to abandon hopes of a higher education and with it the future earning opportunities such education opens up.
Top Universities Are Also Affected
Across the UK, the playing field is far from level. While students studying in England face having their course fees raised up to £9,000 per year, Scottish students still get fully funded university places and Welsh students have their fees capped at previous levels.
The higher levels of fees for England's university students has resulted in drops in application of close to 9 percent in the last year. The courses that have seen the largest decline in applicant numbers are those in the arts and media disciplines, with creative arts and design applications down by over 16 per cent. These are typically courses which lead to generally low-paid careers. In comparison, applications for courses in subjects such as medicine are down by just 2 per cent.
Members of the Russell Group, a select family of British universities that maintain the highest levels of excellence in both teaching standards and research, have also been hit hard. These include Liverpool University and Manchester, along with Oxford and Cambridge.
Fee Refugees
There are now fears for what the Daily Telegraph calls 'fee refugees'. These are families who plan to move into either Scotland or Wales in order to get a better deal on the cost of higher education. It is estimated that by moving to Scotland students could save up to £36,000 over the course of a four year undergraduate programme. Families who live close to the borders of either Scotland or Wales are estimated to be those who are most likely to seek more favourable fee levels by moving. Amid fears in some quarters regarding the effect on wider economics such as housing markets, it's expected that few families from the south of England will suddenly decide to move into Scotland.
The Scottish authorities have responded with a proposed tightening up of checks on families who have recently moved into the country. Cases are, they say, looked at individually rather than being subject to an across-the-board policy. Students whose families move for career reasons will be allowed to claim the free higher education benefits that other Scottish residents are entitled to.