University Challenge: Why Working-Class Students Are More Likely To Drop-Out
Image Credit: Brown’s Books For Students
A year and a half ago, I shuffled into my lecturer’s office in floods of tears. I was going to tell him that I was dropping out of university - University College London, one of Britain’s most prestigious academic institutions. I had been there for six months. Since enrolling, my mental health had spiralled. I was failing most of my course modules. My bank account was empty. I missed my dog. I felt like I was the only person there who didn’t like avocado on toast. More than anything, I was gravely out of place. Three in ten of UCL’s large student body come from fee-paying schools and many attend grammar schools, which often cater to the middle-class. Whilst this might not seem shocking, only 7% of children in the U.K. are educated privately. State-educated pupils, especially those who attended non-selective schools, are disproportionately underrepresented at institutions like UCL.
“Is there anything we can do to make you stay?” my lecturer asked.
I had already made up my mind. All I wanted to do was sign the course withdrawal form and get out of the office faster than a UCL student could say “My dad’s a banker.”
And so I did. There was no convincing me otherwise. Despite having no back-up plan, no career network and no money, I left my lecturers office having signed the form with an unbeatable sigh of relief. I was no longer a “disadvantaged” student – someone who might be the first in their family to go to university or from a low-income background – at a Russell Group university. I didn’t have to pretend that I belonged there anymore.
Upon withdrawing from my studies, I became a statistic. About 9% of students drop out of university before their second year. A disproportionate amount of those who drop out are from disadvantaged backgrounds. In 2017, London Metropolitan University – with a high proportion of “disadvantaged” students - had the UK’s highest drop-out rate at 18%. In comparison, less than 1% dropped out of Cambridge University, an institution that is notoriously unrepresentative of working-class communities in the U.K.
Less well-off students in the U.K. are being failed by an overstretched education system. Going to university isn’t our only option but when we are sold the idea that a good degree will greatly benefit our future, it can seem like a legitimate route to our own success. Of course, that’s often not true. Here are three reasons why I think we’re more likely to drop out of university.
Our underfunded state education sector cannot prepare us for university. Unlike our fee-paying counterparts, state schools lack vital funding to help students progress into further education. Since 2010, spending has fallen by 8% per student in the state sector. That’s the equivalent of a £4 billion cut.
Widening access to university isn’t cheap. Without funding, pupils in the state sector will be disproportionately less likely to receive crucial guidance on getting into university. Hiring more staff for smaller class sizes, hiring staff with specialist knowledge of higher education, providing educational trips and creating university access courses: all of these assets are becoming increasingly uncommon in state schools. Unlike private school students – who attend a privately funded school with more specialist resources and are more likely to have parents who went to university to offer advice – students in state schools are often left with no help, no advice and therefore no credible route into higher education.Living “the student lifestyle” is unaffordable and unattainable. It is no surprise that signing a contract for over £9,000 a year is an anti-working class repellent. However, those of us who bite the bullet and agree to pay the sum will face yet another hurdle in our university life. The real struggle is having to eat, drink, pay rent, maintain a social life, attend societies and travel back home if living away.
Working-class students rack up the largest loans in the country – around £57,000 upon graduation - yet it is us who live in the most poverty-stricken conditions during our studies. About £4,500 per year on average is needed to top up the student maintenance loan. Students with parents in white-collar jobs need not worry about asking for that extra cash. Students with parents on benefits, in minimum-wage work, on zero-hour contracts, in one-parent households or with no savings do need to worry. Entering higher education with no Bank of Mum and Dad will decrease your chance of succeeding at university.
Often it seems more lucrative for us to think about the short-term, to get a job that pays now rather than waiting three or so years for a job that pays later. And who says that when working-class students graduate we’re exposed to the same opportunities as rich students anyway?Working-class students benefit the least from graduating. We’ve already established that most middle-class students have access to better schools because their parents have more money. There’s one more thing to add to our holy trinity: contacts.
As a student at UCL I was never more than three metres away from someone who knew someone at the BBC, in Canary Wharf or in Parliament. Usually through familial networks, middle-class students tend to already have access to the career of their choosing. In comparison, even when graduating from top universities, working-class graduates face climbing a tall ladder to elite careers. After graduation, students from advantaged backgrounds will earn 16% more than their disadvantaged counterparts. Why? They know who can get them their internships, their work experience, their references and their hefty paycheck.
Systematically, the odds are stacked against poorer students. From the walk into the classroom, to our first lecture and finally into the job market, we are always catching up in a race we feel like we’ll never win. Almost half of young people in the UK now enter higher education. We might make it there, but the chances of us staying and competing in the race are slimmer than ever. It is time that the race was fair. Pressure groups and organisations such as The Sutton Trust exist to break educational barriers in the UK. I was lucky to be invited for a residential week at the University of Cambridge - participating in lectures, discussions and societies - free of charge by the The Sutton Trust with the aim of making university life become accessible for young people like me. After dropping out of UCL and working for almost two years, I returned to university in Belfast this September. This time round, I have appreciated smaller class sizes, tutors remembering my name, a more accessible Students Union and no waiting time to speak to welfare, academic and advisory staff.
It’s time to make university accessible for everyone. It’s time to fund the state education sector, allowing students the means to decide whether university is right for them. It’s time to end anti-poor discrimination in the job market if or when disadvantaged people graduate, to raise working-class people with their class and not out of their class. It’s time that poorer students start reaching for the same opportunities as their richer counterparts – with or without a degree - instead of the tissues in their lecturer’s office.