Closing The Gap
The forthcoming introduction of top-up fees could cause chaos in 2005, when universities will see thousands more applicants missing a Gap year to avoid having to pay the higher fees.
The cost of taking a Gap year for those leaving school in summer of 2005 will soar, as students will now incur the costs of up to £3,000 a year by entering university in 2006. Education Secretary Charles Clark has refused to offer concessions, saying that families will have had three years' notice about the introduction of top-up fees and so can easily plan for it.
The real problems will occur for universities when the extra students who would have taken gap years apply in 2005, causing a glut of top candidates who will have an increasingly difficult time in distinguishing themselves.
Students from rich families will benefit the most, as they will have enough money to afford a gap year nonetheless, and will find themselves in a reduced pool of talented candidates in 2006.
Applications to Oxbridge, which are already increasing year on year, will be particularly hit, making it questionable whether it will be viable to continue with the policy of interviewing nearly all candidates. Cambridge's introduction of pre-interview testing may yet become unavoidable for Oxford.
29th Jan 2004