Pupils want perks for £3K fee

The top-up fee generation of market-savvy students is set to hit academics and universities with a list of demands ranging from better teaching quality to free gym membership, according to an exclusive survey of 10,000 teenagers for The Times Higher .

The Times Higher -Hobsons UK School Leaver Recruitment Review provides an unprecedented insight into the attitudes of 16 to 18-year-olds to tuition fees, debt and their academic abilities - and underlined the confusion about government reform of student funding.

It reveals that seven out of ten teenagers expect to go to university, but in return for paying tuition fees of up to £3,000 a year, they expect improved standards.

Sixty-two per cent said they expected better teaching quality and 40 per cent said they expected better campus facilities such as libraries and IT equipment.

Thirty per cent said halls of residence should meet a higher standard, and 39 per cent said they expected that there would be no hidden fees - such as an extra charge for university accommodation - in the light of the hike in fees.

The youngest in the survey, those in Year 11 (aged 16) at school, were most likely to believe that the £3,000 tuition fee would cover accommodation costs - 48 per cent said they would not expect to pay extra for halls. One in three expects free sports facilities.

Michael Sterling, chairman of the Russell Group, said it was "perfectly reasonable" to expect better teaching: "That strikes me as a 'must deliver' for universities. It would certainly be difficult to sustain the argument that universities need more money if you can't deliver better quality with the extra you are receiving."

The survey reveals that teenagers are uncertain about their own abilities and how much university will cost. Fifty-six per cent predicted to get above-average Ucas scores said they have "no" maths skills, 54 per cent said they have "no" essay writing skills. The Government welcomed the survey and said it was planning to toughen literacy and numeracy standards at GCSE.

It added: "We welcome the fact that young people recognise that paying tuition fees entitles them to certain expectations of quality teaching and provision."

Fifty-five per cent of teenagers said they needed to do more research on the cost of university, while one in ten said they would pick a university that charged less than the £3,000 fee cap.

Barry Sheerman, former chairman of the Education and Skills Select Committee, said: "It's a positive step for standards if students become more discriminating consumers. But I also feel there is still appalling ignorance about how the 2006 regime will work."

Michael Driscoll, chairman of Campaigning for Mainstream Universities, said: "A worrying number of teenagers have no accurate idea of the fee, and two thirds of those planning to live at home say increased fees mean they are less likely to go to university.

"Ministers need to raise their game urgently and sell the new support package, especially to students from lower-income families."

Kat Fletcher, president of the National Union of Students, said: "Students have every right to expect more for their money, but with research continuing to receive much more funding than teaching, students and their needs are being pushed further into the background."

paul.hill@thes.co.uk