Leader: The hidden cost of charging top fees

IF THE intensifying squeeze on household budgets was not enough to slow the headlong growth in university applications, then rising inflation and the prospect of fees stretching up to £9,000 a year could not but cause some families to reconsider whether they could afford a son or daughter at university for three years.

Stripping out overseas students, figures from the Ucas admissions service show a drop of 12 per cent in the number of UK students applying for a university place. The figure for Scottish students applying for a place at a Scottish university is down 10 per cent, while the number of Scots applying for a place at an English university is down by 15 per cent.

Now, these figures are tentative, as the final deadline for most courses is January, and caution needs to be exercised in drawing conclusions from them. However, they do seem to flag up a significant trend. While the fact that Scots students not facing tuition fees at a Scottish university helps explain the lower rate of application decline in this category, the costs of living away from home and related expenses look to have been a factor in the overall downturn. It is also notable that the sharpest declines are in applications from mature students, with a fall of 28 per cent recorded in applications from those aged 40 and over, perhaps retraining for a second career.

The figures overall may fire a warning shot across the bows of universities who thought they could charge the top fee with impunity. There is an economic context to all this which some may have seriously underestimated.