Hatch End High School pupil Sophie Lipton has opted to go straight to university to avoid the rise in fees. She plans to take Middle Eastern studies at Manchester University.
Sophie, who has been involved in RSY for six years, feels she "couldn't miss the opportunity for lower fees. It's very unfair on my year group. Now we have to go straight to university without the experience and opportunities of a gap year. I'm really interested in the Middle East so it would have benefited me.
"I'm thinking of taking a gap year afterwards but that also has problems because it's very difficult to find a job.
"Hardly any of my friends are taking gap years. It's really annoying for our year because we are the cut-off point and it won't make a difference to the year below."
