Congratulations to all the A-level students who got the grades they need and are heading to university this autumn. But a growing band of young adults are spurning a conventional British university and pursuing other options, ranging from high-level apprenticeships through to scholarships and degrees from low-fee universities abroad….

….Gemma Collins is leaving her home in Blackpool and her job in McDonald’s, where she has worked for two years while studying for her A-levels, to start an undergraduate degree at Harvard in Massachusetts, ranked the third-best university in the world.

She has rejected places at a number of universities in England, including Cambridge. “Higher fees create a huge fear for low-income families, who don’t like the idea of taking on so much debt. The scholarship means I can go to an American university and come out with no debt hanging over me.”

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