White Working Class Males in British Higher Education
Figure 30 : Perceptions of HE - agreement with statements (% who agreed or strongly agreed ) by POLAR3 quintile
To gather a deeper understanding of perceptions held , focus group participants were asked to explore their views of university in a number of different exercises . To start to share their thoughts the groups were asked to write down their initial associations with the word ‘ university ’, to which they provided a range of words and phrases with both positive and negative connotations .
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Words related to the cost of studying and specifically the debt incurred were routinely and quickly identified (‘ the fees and expenses seem a bit daunting ’) as well as the more positive perceptions of the educational opportunities offered by university (‘ I would like to better my knowledge ’) and the potential access to a better career (‘ A route to better jobs ’). Some respondents identified that it would involve more learning and the learning would be harder (‘ like school ’, ‘ hard work ’) and for some this was viewed negatively (‘ More education – in a bad way ’). Others saw university as offering independence (‘ the chance to be my own person and move forward with life ’) and access to new friends ( It ’ s also the chance to make new friends , different people and getting more opportunities ’). Overall the majority of initial thoughts and feelings were clustered around costs / debt , the chance to learn
“ It ’ s the pressure - now at college you don ’ t know if you ’ ll get the grades , then at university will you enjoy the course and keep up , and then having to look after yourself , budget , cook and clean .
It ’ s dealing with it all . The stress .” --focus group participant