AFS clearing update
Last week a record 435,000 students were accepted onto a place at University. Following the announcement of the results on the 10 th of August, AFS has seen a dramatic increase in website traffic and a 34% increase over the same period last year.
All evidence points to a late summer surge of bookings, with AFS on track to achieve a record number of enquiries in the month. This surge is driven partly by increased demand for University places and by students leaving their accommodation arrangements very late in the cycle.
5% increase in students
2021 has seen a 5% increase in students accepted at University compared to 2020, which was itself a record year. 388,000 students from the UK have a place while a new high of 37,000 overseas students from outside the UK have been accepted. Just under 10,000 students from the EU will start university this year (a 56% fall on 2020).
UCAS predicts record clearing
Despite the high number of students who have been accepted onto courses, UCAS (the University and College Admissions Service) predict record 90,000 students will find places through clearing. These will typically be students who have received different grades to those they expected and then follow the clearing process to find an alternative university course.
However the pressure on student numbers is likely to make this a competitive experience with some Universities struggling to cope with existing demand and even offering payments for students to defer. https://www.accommodationforstudents.com/student-landlord-guides/4063
Longer term growth in student numbers
UCAS are anticipating several more years of growth in student numbers, likely to result in increased demand for student accommodation, with more students leading to greater demand for student housing.
Covid impact on 50% of 2021 university entrants
Of those going to University for the first time this year, half of them told AFS that Covid 19 had some kind of impact on their university choice. For many this was an inability to visit open days, but in some cases it involved selecting an institution that was closer to home in the event of further restrictions. A large number of students have taken the time to research what the balance between online and face to face teaching was before making a final commitment.
82% of students would recommend University
The appeal of a UK University education remains strong and that is the case even despite the challenges students have faced over the last 18 months. In our most recent survey over 80% of current students told us they would recommend the experience to a friend or family member.
Students have generally adapted well to the situation and in many cases adopted a positive approach to changes such as online learning, a theme which came out of our student podcast recently https://www.accommodationforstudents.com/student-blog/7365
While satisfaction with student accommodation over the last 12 months was a solid if not exceptional 6.6 out of 10, a significant minority – 42% scored 8 or higher, suggesting that a core group of students had a positive experience over the last year.
