The Tory-led government’s decision to treble tuition fees has had a significant impact on applications to university from students in the Tees Valley with numbers down 14% compared with the same period last year.
Official figures have shown that in the 2011-12 university application cycle, there were 500 fewer students applying to universities than in the 2010-11 cycle, with an astonishing 2000 fewer applications from the whole of the North East.
This drop in applications comes despite Prime Minister David Cameron insisting that raising tuition fees to £9000 per year would in fact widen access to university, and claiming that ‘we want more people to go to university, not less’.
Alex said:
“These latest figures show that David Cameron’s decision to treble tuition fees is continuing to put young people in Teesside off applying to university and preventing them reaching their full potential. It is unfair that so many in the North East who have the ability to go to university are being deterred because of the high levels of debt that they will face.
“Increasing tuition fees to £9000 is an unfair, unnecessary and unsustainable policy which will do Britain’s economy long term harm. Labour would reverse the corporation tax cut for banks and use the money to help cut fees for students recognising that Higher Education should be a partnership between students and the state.
“That is the difference between Labour, which makes investing in skills and knowledge a priority, and an out of touch Tory-led Government that will restrict opportunity and damage the future of our economy.”