Poverty and University in the United Kingdom

Written by Joaquin Magno

When I was 15 or 16, I felt that it was a given that I had to go to university, and get a degree – that I had to attend some higher education institution as a prerequisite to my future financial stability and success. Although to many, this is a throwaway assumption, this idea completely masks the importance of education as a tool to build a stable and comfortable life. And that for a concerning population of people in the United Kingdom, it is out of reach.

In the age of normalized university attendance and degree inflation, alongside crises of equality and income, King’s Broadcast for Change hopes to shed more light onto the university experience, from the perspective of financial accessibility.

In this article, we will cover the necessity of educational access in the United Kingdom, then examine what measures our own university takes in order to provide more equitable opportunities for underprivileged individuals. From this, we can take a look at some of the ways that King’s and other actors can build on existing systems to help create a fairer, more equitable future.

It cannot be denied that United Kingdom university participation levels for our generation have increased dramatically from the times of our parents and grandparents. With a massive boom in participation rates in the late 1990s and early 2000s, the number of Millennials and Gen Z entering the workforce with a bachelor’s degree has become the norm. [source]

Considering this, one can look at the laws of supply and demand to see our current crisis: there are a greater quantity of degree-holders looking for jobs, and yet employers’ demand for said degree-holders has not caught up. Whilst employers could snatch up these young graduates’ at decreased wages (which, when considering inflation, they do [source]), the primary consequence of this is degree inflation. The practice by which employers increase the level of education necessary to obtain a job. [source]

So, why is this relevant to our topic of poverty? Having a university degree especially in the age of degree inflation, is demonstrably tied to obtaining higher wages, on average. In the United Kingdom, somebody with a bachelor’s degree earns substantially more than those without one. For instance, in 2019, a report from the Department of Education stated that university graduates earned 10,000 GBP more than non-graduates. [source] Although this statistic is pre-pandemic, it emphasizes the importance of accessibility in universities, especially for those who wish to break out of poverty and build generational wealth.

The current situation in the United Kingdom when it comes to determining underprivileged backgrounds is via two metrics; eligibility for free school meals (FSM), and their area of residence, based on the POLAR quintiles.

In a Research Briefing from the House of Commons Library, it was revealed that those eligible for free school meals were significantly less likely to attend university than those who were not. Beyond that, it is also more likely for these individuals to not complete their university degree. Among this group of underprivileged students, the graduates fared significantly better. However, it is important to note that they had slightly higher likelihood of unemployment, and slightly lower earnings than their counterparts who were not eligible for free school meals. [source]

Deprivation and poverty have an immense impact on those who are applying to university as well. Due to the pandemic and the cancellation of exams, schools in the United Kingdom had to produce results through predicted grades, based on historical data. Oftentimes, this historical data paralleled the lack of opportunity and educational resources, like tutoring or admissions support, through lower academic outcomes. With a shocking 20 percent accuracy rate, the pandemic derailed applicants’ academic and professional careers, only exacerbating the consequences of COVID-19 on disadvantaged communities in the United Kingdom. [source]

Beyond material consequences surrounding accessibility and opportunity, poverty and deprivation have immense psychological consequences. With many students hailing from different locations to where they end up at university, the social ramifications of deprivation can make it difficult for certain individuals to adjust. [source] Drawing on previous statistics, the disparities in outcome between free school meal and non-free school meal students’ outcomes indicate factors beyond the quality of education provided. [source] At a given degree program at a university, there is, at least in principle, an expectation that there is an equality of opportunity in terms of academics. Despite this, the data indicates that there needs to be more work done in order to provide more equitable outcomes.

At King’s College London, we take a relatively typical approach to increasing opportunities and access for students from deprived or otherwise underprivileged backgrounds. Primarily, this takes the form through the work of projects like the Access and Participation Plan, and the King’s College London Widening Participation, which attempt to provide more opportunities for underrepresented groups at King’s, including those from disadvantaged and deprived areas.

Likewise, as part of UCAS, there are systems in place to provide support for students from disadvantaged situations, primarily addressing their GCSE and A-Level results, their continued participation in higher education, and their mental and physical health. [source] These systems include the contextualized offer, which provides more accessible entry requirements for these students, and the provision of various grants and bursaries, both for tuition, and participation in societies and clubs. [source] While the current practices appear robust, we will truly feel the impact of these programs when the students they support (or fail to support) end up in the workforce.

Nonetheless, addressing the issue of poverty does not start and begin at King’s, or even with UCAS. In order to arm all people with the tools to secure their personal financial stability and success, the pathways need to be made more accessible. Education, fundamentally, is an investment into the futures of both oneself and one’s country. Through stronger resource allocation into the education systems not only of Central London, but all of the United Kingdom, participation can be made much wider, whether at King’s or elsewhere.

With record numbers of UCAS applications from students hailing from disadvantaged backgrounds in 2022 [source], we can only wait and see how the institutions that govern access to higher education can respond.