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Debt fears see thousands pull out of university race

Thousands of young people gave up their scramble for a university place yesterday as the search for the few remaining vacancies intensified.

UCAS, the university and college admissions service, revealed that nearly 8,000 would-be students had withdrawn from the clearing scheme during the past 24 hours.

About 50,000 others rejected offers made to them – possibly from universities lower down their list after they had been turned down by their top choices, a spokeswoman said.

Students who have pulled out of the race altogether cited the prospect of rising debts or being left with a limited choice of courses as their main reasons for doing so. One survey last week, by student guide Push.co.uk, estimated the average debt incurred by students going to university this autumn would be £24,700.

Mary Curnock Cook, chief executive of UCAS, added: "Some of these people will decide to re-apply next year and I think that's the right advice for people who have got very good qualifications who perhaps haven't got the right combination in their choices and haven't got the right offer."

Meanwhile, figures released yesterday showed that 190,183 young people were seeking a place through clearing – with a further 81,915 still awaiting a decision from universities. This is nearly 50,000 more than at the same time last year.

A total of 4,083 students won a university place through clearing in the 24 hours after receiving their results, bringing the total number of accepted applicants to 394,436.

Ms Curnock Cook said she expected more than 150,000 people to be turned down in total. The Universities minister, David Willetts, said those who did not get the offer of a university place had other good options including apprenticeships and college places.

"There are more university places than ever before and already 380,000 applicants have got confirmed places at university," he added. "For those who have sadly not done as well as they hoped, there are places available in clearing."

drive from www.independent.co.uk