student inequality exposed teenagers from welloff backgrounds are six times more likely to go to university than those from the most deprived areas a report says the higher education funding council for england said more people went to university between 1994 and 2000 but the percentage of poorer students hardly changed at all said its chief executive sir howard newby increasingly more women than men went to university while tuition fees and student loans made no major difference the hefce report drawing on child benefits data said teenagers in the richest areas could expect a better than 50 chance of going to university while in the poorest neighbourhoods it was 10 participation at constituency level ranged from 69 in kensington and chelsea 65 in the city of london and westminster and 62 in sheffield hallam down to 10 in bristol south and leeds central and 8 in nottingham north and sheffield brightside sir howard said the report highlighted the entrenched divisions between rich and poor areas but added it was a social as much as an educational problem he told bbc news we know once children from deprived backgrounds get into university they do very well in fact surprisingly more go into postgraduate study than those from more affluent backgrounds the issue is i think one of raising aspirations amongst those families and those communities that university is something for them and not for other people he said by the time universities traditionally dealt with pupils between the ages of 16 and 18 it was too late instead they should be reaching out to communities and schools much earlier even down to primary school level to persuade them a university education was something they could aspire to he said but while the report revealed stark inequalities and exposed the extent of the challenge there were some encouraging findings he added tuition fees and student loans in england and wales and the different fee regime in scotland did not seem to have affected the choices of young people even the poorest the report also showed women were 18 more likely than men to enter higher education in 2000 up from 6 in 1994 in the poorest areas the gap was 30 in women s favour and growing faster than anywhere else the higher education minister kim howells said we are working in schools to raise the attainment and aspiration of young people in disadvantaged areas higher standards in schools would lead to greater participation in higher education from 2006 upfront tuition fees in england would be removed with grants for the less well off the shadow education secretary tim collins said it is clear from this report that children from disadvantaged areas are far more likely to have encountered poor standards in their secondary education tackling these must be the top priority for any government looking to improve university access the group which represents university vicechancellors universities uk said the new system of deferred fees in england due