A-level results 2015: record number of people taking up university places

The number of top A-level grades may have fallen slightly this year, but record numbers of young people have been accepted onto university courses.

This could be explained by the Government’s decision to lift the cap on the number of students each university can accept.

However, another factor could be the announcement earlier this year that maintenance grants for university students from low-income families are to be scrapped in 2016 and converted into loans.

Prospective students from poorer backgrounds who may have been considering a gap year, might be attending straight after school in order to qualify for the final year of maintenance grant support.

In terms of which age groups are enrolling in university, initial figures from Ucas show a 5% increase in places for 18 year olds in the UK this year, but few among older age groups.