Education, training, skills and careers

Higher education and careers

Among 16- to 21-year-olds, seven in ten are still in education, and almost all of these (90%) plan to continue to age 21 (38%) or beyond (52%). Most are concerned about the link between university fees and wider debt – three quarters think that the way that tuition fees are charged and funded encourages young people to take on too much debt (76%), and they worry that if they go to university they will never be free of debt (65%). Four in ten would be willing to do a degree course that was not their first choice if they could be sponsored or subsidised (41%).

A graph showing how long young women plan to stay in education
A pie chart about tuition fees and debt
A pie chart about the concern of young women about the link between tuition fees and debt
A pie chart about how willing young women are to do a sponsored but not first choice degree