Are some young people choosing university because the alternatives feel impossible?

This blog was kindly authored by Kamila Sitwell, mother of two teenage sons.

When my eldest son began applying for degree apprenticeships, I thought he was exactly the kind of young person the degree apprenticeship system said it wanted.

He was 17, predicted A*, A*, A at A level in Economics, Business and Geography and clear that he wanted to enter the built environment through a degree apprenticeship in Quantity Surveying.

By December 2024, he had applied for more than 20 degree apprenticeships. He exceeded the academic requirements. He had some work experience and a genuine interest in the industry.

He did not secure a single interview.

In many cases, he did not even receive a proper rejection. Just silence.

That experience changed how I saw the transition from school into work. It also changed how I saw the university question.

My eldest son did not suddenly decide that a traditional university route was what he wanted. He started considering it because the route he actually wanted had made him feel insecure and invisible. University became the safe place to retreat to. It offered three more years before facing a labour market that had already knocked his confidence.

That is the part we do not discuss honestly enough.

For many young people, university is absolutely the right choice. It offers intellectual depth, independence, professional preparation and access to careers that genuinely require a degree.

But some young people may be choosing higher education for a different reason: because the alternatives feel impossible to access. This applies not only to undergraduate degrees, but also to many postgraduate routes, where another qualification can become a way to delay facing a labour market they feel unprepared to enter.

The choice is not always as clear as we pretend

The public debate is often framed too simply. University is either defended as the gold standard or attacked as an expensive default. Apprenticeships are either promoted as the practical alternative or held up as proof that higher education is no longer the obvious route.

From the perspective of families trying to navigate the system, it is much messier.

Degree apprenticeships are rightly promoted as a powerful route into skilled professions. But they are also highly competitive, poorly understood by many parents and schools, and difficult for young people to access without confidence, industry awareness, networks and support.

The real question is not whether university or apprenticeships are better.

The real question is whether young people are being taught how to access opportunity at all.

My eldest son had done what schools tell young people to do. He worked hard. He achieved top grades. He followed the rules. Yet he was invisible in the system.

After he completed his A levels, and my younger son finished his GCSEs, we decided to take a gap year as a family. It was not a luxury holiday. It was a deliberate disruption designed to build adaptability, resilience and the skills I felt school had not prepared them for.

We travelled through South America on a tight budget, with overnight buses, cheap hostels, unreliable WiFi and plenty of discomfort. In Argentina, the boys worked on construction and school building projects. In Thailand, they taught English to young children. In China, Japan and Korea, my sons saw megacities, infrastructure, robotics and technology up close.

Alongside the travel, my eldest son began building professional relationships before he needed another opportunity. He developed his LinkedIn profile, published his thoughts about the construction industry, asked questions and started conversations with people already working in the field.

That visibility changed everything.

Through networking, he secured short-term industry experience with Gleeds in Lima and Turner & Townsend in Tokyo. Building Magazine invited him to write about his journey into construction. By January, after months of showing up and building relationships, he secured five degree apprenticeship offers and accepted a role with Gleeds.

That turnaround made one thing clear to me. Grades mattered, but they were not enough.

What policy needs to address

If we want young people to make better post-18 choices, we need to stop treating careers education as a final-year add-on.

First, schools and colleges should teach students much earlier how opportunity actually works. That means industry awareness, professional communication, networking, public proof of interest and confidence in speaking to adults outside their usual circles.

Second, degree apprenticeship recruitment needs more transparency. Young people should understand what successful candidates are doing beyond meeting grade requirements. Employers should explain how applications are screened, what evidence matters and how candidates can realistically stand out.

Third, higher education institutions should be more honest about why students choose university. Some arrive with a clear purpose. Others arrive because they were rejected, confused or frightened by the alternatives. That distinction matters for policy, student support and graduate outcomes.

Finally, employers, universities, schools and parents need to accept that qualifications are necessary, but no longer sufficient. The more automated recruitment becomes, the more important human skills become: confidence, initiative, resilience, communication and the ability to create conversations before formal applications open.

We should not frame this as university versus apprenticeships.

The more important question is whether young people are leaving education equipped to navigate either route with confidence.

Because if the alternatives to university remain opaque, competitive and difficult to access, many young people will continue choosing higher education not from conviction, but because it feels like the only door still open.