One in ten university starters do not have a single A-level, with numbers more than doubling in a decade.

Data from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) shows 75,000 freshers in 2024-25 did not hold an A-level or equivalent qualification – up from 31,000 a decade before.

In addition, nearly 50,000 students began a university course that year without a GCSE or equivalent, up from 12,000 ten years previously.

Those starting a degree without A-levels represented nine per cent of everyone starting a course in 2024-25, compared with just five per cent a decade ago.

The figures, the latest available, come after Adam Tickell, vice chancellor of Birmingham University, questioned whether such candidates should have access to student loans. 

He said those 'without a single A-level' would be unlikely to pass their degrees, despite the significant taxpayer 'investment'.

Under the current system, graduates only start to repay their loan when they meet an earnings threshold, with the balance wiped after 30 to 40 years and the taxpayer picking up the bill for the rest.

Reacting to the latest data, Paul Wiltshire, who created University Watch to campaign for better value-for-money for students, said those with poor attainment at school were unlikely to earn well even after completing a degree.

He said: 'Encouraging them to enter higher education is just a one-way ticket to a lifetime of debt and no better pay.

'Of course there will be some exceptions, but for the vast majority of lower prior academic candidates, higher education is not an opportunity – it is exploitation by the commercially motivated sector to use them as pawns to extract government funds via student loans.'

It comes amid growing unease at the enormous debts graduates are accruing – especially those who took out Plan 2 loans.

Ministers are expected to U-turn on a decision to freeze until 2030 the salary threshold at which these graduates start repaying their loans at £29,385.

Many young workers are now saying the interest – charged at RPI plus up to three per cent – is mounting up faster than they can repay the loans.

Birmingham, which is an elite Russell Group university, typically has high entry requirements - but some other institutions are accepting students with much lower prior attainment.

Many are private providers running 'franchise' courses for universities.

Andy Westwood, professor of public policy, business and government at Manchester University, told Times Higher Education: 'Graduate outcomes aren't as strong as they might be so public opinion is being shaped by this and politicians are asking whether untrammelled growth in student numbers is going to be transformative for the economy.'

Professor Tickell said last week: '[The sector] is getting students without a single A-level or equivalent getting access to the student loan book.

'The problem with that is investment in students is investment in human capital…and we're investing so much money in people who…we are not really capable of graduating.'

He added: 'Now is the time to ask, what does the public want from universities? How do we want to fund it? How many people do we want to go to university? And I think those are really difficult questions, because as providers, it's hard enough already.'

The HESA figures include postgraduate and undergraduate students, and part-time as well as full-time. 

A spokesman for Universities UK, which represents vice chancellors, said: 'Universities always look at more than prior attainment when making admissions decisions, and will take a range of factors into account when considering whether a student is well-equipped to succeed on a course. Many students go to university later in life, and arrive with other valuable skills.

'It is not in the interests of a university to admit a student they don’t believe can succeed. English universities are regulated on the outcomes their students achieve – including whether students continue from one academic year to the next, the proportion who complete the course, and on their progression after graduation. This means universities put huge effort into ensuring every student fulfils their potential, even if they haven’t succeeded in education previously.'

A Department for Education spokesman said: 'While universities are independent from government and responsible for their own admissions decisions, it is essential that quality is maintained and that the students they admit are likely to succeed.

'We are taking robust action against organisations that misuse public money including by strengthening oversight on university franchising arrangements.

'More widely, we are breaking down barriers to opportunity and providing more choice for young people by aiming to ensure two thirds of young people taking a gold standard apprenticeship, higher training or heading to university by the age of 25.'