Liberal Youth welcomes the news that UCAS is reporting an increase in university applications, and especially welcomes the continuing trend of young people from poorer background going to university more. With people from disadvantaged backgrounds being 80% more likely to attend a higher education institution this is a major step in creating a fairer and more liberal society.

Sam Fisk, Co Chair of Liberal youth said that “The news that university applications have increased is truly fantastic especially that  young people from disadvantaged backgrounds are increasingly going to university.

Liberal Youth believe no matter where you come from you should have the freedom to achieve in life and often university is a gateway to achievement.

We now need to push for a more progressive maintenance loan system to ensure students can afford rising rent and living costs bills.  That way we can continue to remove barriers to higher education.”

The increase in applications can be seen as a testament to the work of Liberal Democrats in government to creating a creating a fairer and more equal society and in improving the systems that were left by the previous Labour administration.

The Liberal Democrat changes to tuition fees are a vast improvement on the old Labour system. The Institute for Fiscal Studies found that the poorest 29% of students were better off under the new system and that it was “ substantially more progressive” than the old Labour system as the richest students were likely to pay back ten times as much as the poorest students.

Original article from The Libertine.