White Working Class Males in British Higher Education whatever I want whenever I want to , can choose what I eat , can choose if I wanna go out and what time I can come home ’, so it ’ s definitely positive and negatives but after 18 years … of living with your parents it ’ s definitely scary .
Like when I was at [ other University ] I went there and I was like ‘ No , I ’ m not feeling this , I don ’ t see myself here ’, and then I came here and I was like ‘ Yeah , yeah , I can see myself here .’
We [ my friends and I ] were talking about uni , we were like ‘ Oh , what if you ’ re just alone in your room and no one talks to you ?’ Oh , I can just picture like mad anxiety levels , and then there ’ s also a fact like you are going on your own .
Some participants talked about considering apprenticeships or full time employment rather than going to university . Additionally , some participants shared stories about their peers from school who chose not to go to university . Their perspectives are illustrated through these quotes :
One of my friends actually was going to go to university but he didn ’ t get into his first choice and his second choice was a proper back-up choice as it was low-down in the league tables , very low , and so he just simply said , ‘ Never mind , I ’ ll just restudy for a year and try and get better grades , ‘ cause no way I ’ m paying over £ 27,000 to study there !’
I think circumstances have to be right ‘ cause two of my friends did go in through UCAS and did get places , but then ended up deferring them ‘ cause they didn ’ t want to go at that time , so now they ’ re spending the year working and then they ’ re going to go . So I think it ’ s to do with the debt as well and so when they actually go , they ’ ve got enough money to be comfortable and be more independent .
Some of them [ friends ] have gone into apprenticeships . My girlfriend ’ s in an accountancy apprenticeship . University didn ’ t really appeal to her .
People that are in the middle [ on the fence about higher education ] are probably mostly thinking about employability instead of uni life . People who are doing apprenticeships , they obviously want to earn money first and they know that uni ’ s not worth doing -- the debt , and they want a job -- so people in the middle are more likely going to wanna be told that if you come here you can get a job as well as you ’ ll have a good time .
I think there was like two types of people [ who do not go to university ]: one was the people that knew what they wanted to do and knew that they didn ’ t need a degree for it , like some of my friends have gone into carpentry or things like that , where they can just go and get an apprenticeship , which will be better for what they wanna do because they ’ ll just be learning on the job . Then you have the other people that had absolutely no idea what they wanted to do , and so I don ’ t wanna go to uni and spend all the money that it costs on something that I ’ m not even sure if it ’ s what I wanna do myself .
Participant : One of my friends … was going to go and do renewable energy somewhere , but instead he found an apprenticeship with [ Energy Company ] and he ’ s gone through that path , so he chose that really , rather than university . Researcher : So he ’ s still pursuing the same career path but without the debt ? Participant : Yeah , exactly .
Some participants also talked about parents who expressed concerns about higher education , as illuminated by these quotes :
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Participant : Throughout my entire life I ’ ve been told ‘ Don ’ t get a degree , don ’ t go get a degree . It ’ s a lot of debt . You don ’ t need that debt . Don ’ t get a degree ’. Researcher : From whom ? Participant : My parents , teachers at school , teachers at college .