Mature Students: Braving new costs of the student world

Linda McGowan knows all too well that not everyone goes to university when they are young. For a start, she didn't. But the girl who left school at 15 and joined a rock'n'roll band has just become, at the age 50, the deputy president of the Mature Students Union.

"There are all kinds of reasons why people don't consider doing a degree course when they are younger," she says. "They may have commitments as careers, they may have family responsibilities, they may be under pressure to find a job, they may want to get married.

"Besides, it is only recently that we have developed the culture of encouraging as many young people as possible to go to university. In the past, especially if you came from a working class background, it was not the norm."

And the reasons why people decide to apply for a university course later in life are equally varied. Some hope to enhance career prospects or change tack altogether. Others seek an intellectual challenge or the opportunity to study a subject that has always fascinated them.

There are more mature students taking degree courses at UK universities than a quick inspection of a typical campus might suggest: according to the UCAS report for 1997, 25 out of every 200 students accepted to degree courses last year were aged 25 or over. Of these, 13,565 were 25 to 29, 14,711 were in their thirties, and 6,293 were 40 or older. However, preliminary figures suggest applications from mature students have fallen this year.

Linda McGowan suspects this may be due to financial considerations. "Now that grants are being phased out in favour of student loans and tuition fees are coming in, things are becoming much harder financially for mature students," she said.

"Many of them are doing part-time jobs on top of their studies, as well as fulfilling family responsibilities. It can be very difficult and does not leave much time to experience the social or political aspects of student life."

Even so, Sandy Jerrim, a 35-year-old single mother of three children aged between 10 and 16, has no doubts that taking a degree in social policy and administration at Portsmouth University was worthwhile.

"I was working for Forte and I could see that whether I stayed with the company or looked elsewhere, there would come a time when, without a degree, I would hit the glass ceiling.

"Financially, it's been a nightmare. Debt becomes your best friend. But it's definitely been worth it, not just in terms of self-confidence, but in revealing your potential. I'm the first in my family to go to university, but now I've done it I know my children can do it too."

She has now been accepted for a masters degree, for which she has been awarded a bursary. "By the time I've completed that, my children will be nearing the age when I will be free to follow my career plans."

Mark Ward, 38, graduated this year from the University of Westminster with a BA in illustration. He lives with his wife and two young children in Hounslow and had been working in the printing industry. When he was made redundant for the third time in five years he felt it was time to do something about a career change, hence the decision to take the degree in illustration. Disappointingly, his first choice university, Kingston, which was the nearest to his family home, turned down his application. "When you have a family you can't simply uproot them." he says. "So I ended up travelling three hours a day and spending about pounds 15 a week on fares, which was no joke as money was extremely tight. But somehow, we struggled through."

Fitting in coursework with family commitments was also hard. "I often ended up working seven nights a week."

But it paid off. Not only did he graduate with a 2.1, but this summer he also won top prize in a design competition with an illustration intended for use as a heading in a listings magazine.

Now he is hoping his career as a freelance illustrator will take off. He says his degree should make all the difference. "My course taught me not only to find my own illustrative style, but also gave my work some focus and prepared me for the challenges of the workplace."