Industry News
Under-18 university students rise
Posted on 31st March 2008
The number of people attending university before they reach the age of 18 has risen significantly in recent years.
A report in the Guardian revealed that in the last six years, the number of under-18s at English universities increased 50 per cent.
There are now 8,000 students under the age of 18 studying in higher education institutions, the paper found from High Education Statistics Agency figures.
It suggested that age discrimination legislation from 2006 now means that ambitious and able youngsters are taking advantage of their chance to study to a higher level at a younger age.
"The danger is that while a child may be bright and need stimulation, universities can't provide for the needs of a child," Margaret Morrisey, chair of the National Confederation of Parent Teacher Associations, told the Guardian. "To push them prematurely into an adult world might not be responsible."
A recent study from LV= calculated that the total cost of supporting a child through education at an independent school and then university could be as high as a quarter of a million pounds.