White Working Class Males in British Higher Education
Figure 37 : What age were you when you felt sure that you would apply to university ? White , male , British , traditional age ( 17-19 years ), and first generation students ( n : 97 )
The contrast between when white , working class males are likely to become sure that they would apply to university and when their peers are likely to be sure could be explained by different factors , perhaps especially : at what age students hear about higher education as an option and at what age they become confident in their decision to apply to university . The UCAS report suggested that students from disadvantaged backgrounds may not hear about university as an option until much later than their advantaged peers ( 2016 , p . 29 ):
If most of the information about university is not given until students are in sixth form , many people have already left to pursue other options by then . This is particularly true in schools without a strong tradition of university progression .
Schools serving high populations of students from working class families may not be giving their students space to consider higher education as an option for their future until much later than schools in high income neighbourhoods . If students from higher income households learn about higher education before the age of ten , then they have many more years to consider and plan for their educational and career path than their working class peers , which further disadvantages and disenfranchises working class students . If they are not learning about higher education as an option for their future in school , they may also not hear about university as a choice at home . As some of the focus group participants discussed , as indicated in the previous section , some parents may suggest other options or may try to discourage their child from applying to university .
Another factor to consider is student confidence in the decision to pursue a university degree . Since the question asked respondents to consider when they ‘ felt sure ’ about applying to university , even if a student does learn that higher education is an option , they are not becoming certain about their decision to apply to university until much later than their peers perhaps because of the concerns and possible risks explored in the previous section . There is an opportunity for outreach and engagement efforts to provide the information and support for students to develop confidence and certainty in the decision to pursue higher education .
The survey respondents and focus group participants indicated that there were a number of factors that contributed to their decisions to apply to and accept a place at university , including ( but not limited to ) the ranking of the university , the ranking of the course to which they ’ ve applied , the location of the university , the opportunity to undertake placements , and the social
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