WikiJob
A recent survey has found that more than three quarters of students in higher education are not funding their education themselves. 43% of the students polled said their primary source of funding for further education was their parents, whilst 34% said they relied on the Government or Local Education Authority to cover their University costs.
With more people than ever before applying to further education in light of the recession, this indicates more students from poorer backgrounds will be applying for funding from their local education authorities in order to be able to attend further education. This will potentially put an even greater strain on the UK's finances.
WikiJob co-founder Ed Mellett commented on the findings: “I would anticipate The Government will find themselves in an increasingly difficult position when it comes to funding further education. It is their goal to have as many people going to further education from poorer backgrounds as possible, but in the current financial climate can they really afford to pay for more people's education?”
These findings come just three months before the general elections. Whichever party finds themselves in power after the election, the conundrum of funding further education has shown itself to be a vital issue and one that every political party will need a plan for solving.
This study was conducted on http://www.wikijob.co.uk during February 2010 with a sample size of 743 people.
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http://www.prlog.org/
