ARE CLASS DIVIDES PROMINENT AT UNIVERSITY?

When sitting in lectures or seminars with your peers, or seeing

others walk about campus, class doesn’t particularly stand out.

Perhaps if you were to attend a more explicitly liberal uni, like

say Bristol, or one that’s predominantly for those who are wealthy,

like Oxford or Warwick, then class may stand out more. But

Southampton University doesn’t particularly scream rich or poor,

as everyone here tends to dress either ‘indie’, sporty, preppy or

bland; none of these choices making clear their class.

However, though there may not be an explicit divide through

appearance, conversations do make clear which tax brackets

peoples’ families belong to. For instance, one student exclaimed

around election time that Labour couldn’t win as their family

would be ‘too heavily taxed’. Another complaining that their fairly

new Ford Focus was a gift from their parents, who forced them

to decide between getting either a new car, or a second ‘pony’ -

they still seemed torn up that they were only allowed one. These

comments certainly make clear that said individuals’ are from

wealthy backgrounds, but this only become explicit once they

spoke rather than it being instantly observable.

A major way in which class can be established at uni is if someone

is able to play a sport, particularly if they partake in multiple sport

societies. Though this may sound a little far-fetched, when you

consider the cost of a sport and wellbeing pass, joining fees for

the sport itself, uniform, match/travel expenses, the cost of weekly

socials, and so on, the initial costs add up to roughly £200-300

for most sport societies. Of course, there are cheaper ones to join,

or more casual sports that you pay a small weekly fee for, but in

terms of sports that would compete in Varsity, prices are extremely

high. For students whose families can lend them money, or have a

large disposable income, joining a sport is no issue. But for those

who struggle with battling their overdraft each month to try to pay

rent, joining a sport would force them to choose between eating

and paying bills that month or becoming part of a sports team.

Another massive sign of wealth at university is how each student

spends their Christmas, Easter and Summer holidays, or rather where. Again, as overheard in a lecture, one student bragged about

their holiday to the Caribbean Islands, quickly adding that it was

‘very, very expensive’. Many will spend their summers volunteering

abroad (which typically costs over £1000), and their winters on

the annual family skiing holiday, whilst those of lower class and

wealth will spend most of their breaks working. Though this is not

the fault of students whose families have such disposable incomes,

it is an easy way to spot the difference between those who are only

a ‘poor uni student’ and those who are genuinely from a poor

socio-economic background.

Finally, an instant indicator of class at uni is how someone got

in to university. For instance, those from poorer areas may have

been offered the lowest 5% acceptance, whereby grades are

dropped from AAB to BBB or similar, whilst those from richer

backgrounds were required to meet the AAB offer, but somehow

still got in with only BBC. Obviously intake is impacted by the

number of applicants, with the university accepting lower grades

if less people have applied, but even so, someone receiving

remarkably lower grades than needed, and still being accepted,

probably had some family clout or financial sway.

Overall, class is not immediately noticeable at uni, or not

at University of Southampton at least. However, through

conversations, how students spend their uni breaks, whether

they’re part of a sport, and how they got accepted into uni,

divisions of wealth crop up and become evident the more people

you meet.

WORDS BY MADDIE LOCK IMAGES BY TILLY ROBERTS