Funding higher and further education is not always easy and sometimes a little financial help is required. It is no wonder therefore that some people make use of no credit loans such as guarantor loans to help fund their studies or those of children, grandchildren and so on.
Indeed, the number of people taking advantage of such loans may rise. New figures suggest that the increases in tuition fees among English universities may be causing increased difficulties.
According to figures released by the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (Ucas), universities around the UK have suffered the sharpest fall in applications since records began, with the total number of students seeking places dropping by 8.7 per cent last autumn.
In England specifically, the fall was 9.9 per cent and this is thought to be, at least in part, a reaction to the rise of fees, which can now total £9,000 a year.
Commenting on the development, Martin Freedman from the Association of Teachers and Lecturers said: “We are deeply concerned that many potential students are being put off applying and their career prospects will be damaged as a result. The fall in applicants also has worrying implications for universities’ finances,” the Independent reports.
Of course, not everyone has been put off from furthering their education in this way and some of those who still opt to head to university may well be helped in their efforts by no credit loans such as guarantor loans.
Meanwhile, Ucas also found that the new fees did not seem to have affected the number of disadvantaged students seeking to enter higher education. Responding to this, the organisation’s chief executive Mary Curnock Cook said: “Our analysis shows that decreases in demand are slightly larger in more advantaged groups than in disadvantaged groups.”