5th August 2011 9:00
By Blue Tutors
It was revealed this week that middle-ranking universities may offer cash incentives to entice students with the highest grades to forego the experience of a top ranking university. In order to compensate for the drop in applications that will come as a result of higher fees, universities are offering lower fees to the highest performing applicants.
At first sight, this may seem like a good idea which will help bright students from poorer backgrounds attend university. Further, by encouraging brighter students to attend middle-ranking universities, those universities could achieve better results and improve their place in the league tables in the longer term.
However, the reality of this development is that it will create an even deeper divide between rich and poor in an education system which is becoming rapidly marketised. It is unlikely that wealthy students who achieve top grades will take up this offer, meaning that students from poorer backgrounds may be forced to accept such deals, despite achieving the same top grades as their wealthy peers.
Whilst they may save cash in the short term, they may ultimately find it more difficult to obtain the jobs that they desire because they did not graduate from an elite university. This is certainly not worth a reduction of around £2000. When students from poorer backgrounds are faced with this choice it is clear that something has gone very wrong indeed. Rather than leaving bright students with the choice of being too poor to go to university or sell out to a poorer institution, the government should do more to support students who will be assets in the future.