School leavers ditch University of Wollongong as uni of choice

The number of students to put UOW in any of their university preferences has plummeted by 65 per cent since 2017.

This comes as students have not only faced life post-COVID but increasing issues around food security, cost of living pressures and the Illawarra's housing crisis but newly introduced indexation which has blown-out HECS-HELP debt by thousands in some cases.

UOW as a student's first choice has followed the same downward trend, a trend facing many NSW regional universities, however the stats suggest Wollongong and Newcastle are in free-fall.

The top choice for university in 2024 in both NSW and ACT is the University of Sydney, 21.07 per cent of total first preferences, as of November 30.

This was followed by the University of NSW (20.26 per cent), University of Technology Sydney (16.56 per cent) and Macquarie University (10.45 per cent).

Newcastle topped the list for regional universities at 8.27 per cent followed by Wollongong at 2.60 per cent.

University students and high school graduates have proposed that the drop could relate to cost-of-living with students struggling to find accommodation and balance work with study.

When UOW student Ashleigh McMurdo first started her double degree in 2018, students picked universities based on campus lifestyle but she said since the pandemic many wish to "do classes [online] after you finish your work day".

"It just feels like there's a lot more options now that everyone's a lot more online," she said.

She moved from The Oaks near Camden, to study at UOW opting for the leafy campus rather than Sydney's high-rise buildings.

"I was tossing between [the] University of Wollongong, University of Technology Sydney, and Macquarie University and what ended up tipping it over the line was that I got a scholarship to [UOW] Kooloobong Village so I could live in their student housing free of charge for a whole year," she said.

Applications to UOW through the Universities Admissions Centre have been trending down for a number of years but applications via their early admissions process trended upwards, the Interim Deputy Vice-Chancellor Professor Eileen McLaughlin said.

"That pattern has continued this year with school leaver UAC preferences down in line with the wider sector, but offset by a positive response to our early admission program, with the number of offers made comparable to last year and among the highest on record," Professor McLaughlin said.

Student Tye Martin is in the process of switching from UOW to the University of Western Sydney.

He was originally drawn to the campus life of UOW and Wollongong lifestyle but now values communication and learning support.

The 24-year-old works-from-home and is grateful his employer has been supportive of his study.

"If I were to be in a role that required less flexibility at work, I could see how things would give," he said.

Mr Martin said when peers complete mandatory internships they found it "incredibly hard to ensure bills were paid and everyday expenses were covered".

Mount Pleasant school leaver Tom O'Donnell is opting to become a wardsman at a hospital instead of studying nursing at university.

"Seeing how the hospital works from a working position instead of a visiting as a patient, seeing behind the scenes stuff of how healthcare work really goes," he said.

The 18-year-old said many young people are opting to live in cities to gain new experiences.

"A lot of people i know from Wollongong tend to want to go abroad ... [they] might want to travel to Brisbane, Melbourne, just get a bit of life experience somewhere else than where you've grown up," he said.

He added that student debt, commute costs, being homesick could also play a factor to the drop in students opting to study at UOW but believes it is "one of the better universities in Australia".