Poorer students 'face struggle'

Poorer students are more likely to drop out

People from poorer backgrounds are most likely to drop out of further education, according to a new report.

They are also less likely to start university or college in the first place, the University of Glasgow report said.

Professor Andy Furlong, the report's author, said he found a lot of problems for people from poorer backgrounds with finance and the "cultural environment".

The researchers tracked the progress of 300 students from disadvantaged backgrounds across Scotland.

Fear of debt

The study found that students from deprived areas were more likely to leave without a qualification, switch courses or be forced to repeat a year.

Its authors have now called on the Scottish Executive to provide extra funding to ensure that more disadvantaged undergraduates complete their degrees.

The research was carried out by Prof Furlong and Dr Alasdair Forsyth on behalf of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation.

Prof Furlong said they found that many working-class youngsters do not even apply to university because of fear of debt.

He added that those who do make it to college often find that money problems hinder their academic progress.

Those who do make it to university or equivalent degree course are more likely to quit before reaching their academic potential

Prof Andy Furlong

"Those who do make it to university or equivalent degree course are more likely to quit before reaching their academic potential," he said.

"Better financial help, especially non-repayable bursaries, would enable more of them to complete their degrees, especially those who enrol for longer, more prestigious courses."

But Dr Forsyth said that the findings applied "across the board" to England and Wales as well as Scotland.

There, students are currently charged top-up fees of £1,000 per year, a figure set to rise to £3,000 in 2006.

Upfront fees were scrapped in Scotland in 2000-01 and were replaced by a package of loans and grants.

Start saving

Graduates also have to start paying off a £2,000 endowment once they start earning a certain amount.

But even though Scottish students pay less than their peers south of the border, the graduate endowment still hit poorer undergraduates hard, according to Dr Forsyth.

"They were penalised by the abolition of fees because at the end of the course, they now have to pay £2,000 where they were covered by grants before," he said.

"They were very confused about it and said that if they had known about this charge, they would have thought again about enrolling."

He added: "One of the things that worries me is where all this debt ends up.

"It may mean that they spend years paying it off and are reluctant to invest in pensions or start saving."