Up to 34% of A-level students are considering living at home if they get into their preferred university next week. New data from a major national study on the impact of recent crises on educational inequality and social mobility, shows that 20% of the ‘class of 2023’ plan to live at home during term time if they are successful in getting into their preferred university next week, while a further 14% have not yet decided if they’ll move to their university.
Disadvantaged students are particularly impacted, as families facing financial challenges expect to struggle to support a child living away from home. Young people from families who used a foodbank in the last year were much less likely to apply for university at all, and those that did apply for university were much more likely to plan on living at home (31% vs 19% for those that did not use a foodbank). The same was true for those from families who are behind with their housing payments (33% vs 17%). This comes at a time when student maintenance support in England will rise by less than 3% this September, well below inflation, putting further pressure on student finances.
The research also found young people from working class families are much less likely to want to go to a prestigious Russell Group university than those whose parents hold professional or managerial positions (36% vs 50%), with similar differences for young people planning to live at home compared to those looking to move away (32% vs 51%). While the right choice for many young people, living at home during term does place a limit on the available choice of university — along with the full educational and cocurricular opportunities on offer from living on campus — so it is important to avoid this being driven by family’s financial circumstances.
