Sutton Trust · 2018
This report analyses patterns of student mobility in UK higher education, examining who leaves home for university and how far they travel, using data on all students entering university in 2009-10 and 2014-15. It finds that the majority of young people stay local for university (within 57 miles of home), and that moving long distances to attend university is strongly associated with being white, middle-class, and privately educated. British Pakistani and British Bangladeshi students are over six times more likely than white students to stay living at home and study locally, a trend reinforced by the 2012 tuition fee increase. The report recommends reforms to student finance, more flexible university outreach, and specific support for commuter students.