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Less than half of students planning on university

By Holly Jones | May 4, 2011

While almost 40 percent of students wish to attend university, many feel that the fees will be problematic
While almost 40 percent of students wish to attend university, many feel that the fees will be problematic
Just 47 percent of current A-level students intend to apply for university, a poll has found.

Students aged 16 to 18 are increasingly planning to look for work after finishing their A-levels rather than continue into higher education. A further 12 percent of the 1,129 respondents to the survey said they were unsure of what they wanted to do in the future.

Of the respondents who said they would seek work instead of attend university, 11 percent wished to "start earning straight away", 6 percent simply did not want to attend university, and the remainder (67 percent) explained that they would not be able to afford the tuition fees.

While 39 percent of students do still plan to go to university, a fifth are still concerned about fees and almost a quarter said they felt pressured to continue their education by family members.

The Office of Fair Access (OFA) announced last week that every university in the UK would charge at least £6,000 per year in tuition fees starting in 2012. Further research revealed that almost 75 percent of universities will charge the maximum fees of £9,000 per year.

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