This despite UCAS reporting an 8.8 per cent rise in the number of university applications for the coming year.
David Willetts, the Shadow Universities and Skills Secretary, commented: "There are 9 per cent more applicants this year, yet few additional places. Ministers are paving the way for thousands of young people to be disappointed this summer, forcing them onto an appalling job market. Young people must not be the victims of this recession."
Liberal Democrat Shadow Innovation, Universities and Skills Secretary, Stephen Williams said “As the recession bites more people are looking at university as a way of improving their prospects.
The rise in applications is coming not just from school leavers, but from older people who are bearing the brunt of this economic crisis. The government’s u-turn on the planned increase of university places means that institutions will have to turn many of these people away.
If ministers hadn’t botched up the funding last year, more of these people would be able to get the skills they need to secure themselves a better future.”