Undergraduate Applications, Offers and Acceptances 2016

Under-Represented Groups

1. Socioeconomic status

Share of applicants

In 2016, 19.9% of all applicants (excluding WA TAC applicants) were low SES, compared with 50.5% medium SES and 28.4% high SES applicants (based on the postcode measure of SES). To be represented in proportion to their population share, applications from low and high SES applicants would each constitute 25% of the pool of applications, with applications from medium SES applicants constituting the remaining 50%.
The pattern of under-representation of low SES persons in applications and offers data translates into lower participation at university. In 2015 (latest published enrolment data), students from low SES postcodes constituted 17.7% of domestic undergraduate student enrolments.⁵

Applicants

Applicants from medium SES backgrounds have shown a 1.9% increase compared with increases of 1.6% and 1.2% for those from low SES background and high SES background respectively.
Table : Applicants by SES (excluding WA TAC applicants)*, 2015 and 2016

SES	2015	2016	% Change
Low	64,239	65,239	1.6%
Medium	162,617	165,713	1.9%
High	91,958	93,096	1.2%
Total**	322,779	328,219	1.7%

* Applications made through WA tertiary admission centre are excluded due to the ‘half-year’ Year 12 cohort effect, but applications made directly by WA residents are included. Totals include missing /unknown postcodes which cannot be assigned to a state/territory.

** The Australia total includes data that could not be coded to an SES.

Offers

From 2015 to 2016, offers to applicants from low SES backgrounds have shown the highest increase (1.6%), compared with offers to applicants from medium SES backgrounds (1.4%) and high SES backgrounds (-0.5%). Between 2010 and 2016, offers to low SES applicants increased by 30.5%, larger than the increase seen in offers to medium and high SES applicants (25.1% and 11.7% respectively).
Table : Applicants receiving offers by SES (excluding WA TAC offers)*,

2015 and 2016

SES	2015	2016	% Change
Low	53,142	53,966	1.6%
Medium	136,879	138,767	1.4%
High	78,659	78,297	-0.5%
Total**	271,646	273,951	0.8%

* Offers made through WA tertiary admission centre are excluded due to the ‘half-year’ Year 12 cohort effect, but applications made directly by WA residents are included. Totals include missing /unknown postcodes which cannot be assigned to a state/territory.

** The Australia total includes data that could not be coded to an SES.

Offer Rate

Applicants from low SES backgrounds are less likely to receive an offer compared with medium SES and high SES applicants. Their offer rate was 82.7% compared with 83.7% for medium SES applicants and 84.1% for high SES applicants in 2016. The offer rate for low SES applicants remained steady at 82.7% over the 2015 to 2016.
The difference in offer rates may, in part, arise from the differences in the distribution of ATAR among current Year 12 applicants from low SES backgrounds compared with applicants from high SES backgrounds. In 2016, 11.1% of low SES Year 12 applicants had an ATAR above 90, compared with 47.0% for high SES applicants.
Figure : Offer rates by SES (excluding WA TAC offers)*, 2015 and 2016

* offers made through WA tertiary admission centre are excluded due to the ‘half-year’ Year 12 cohort effect, but applications made directly by WA residents are included. Totals include missing /unknown postcodes which cannot be assigned to a state/territory.

Acceptances

Low SES applicants who received an offer were slightly less likely to accept their offer,⁶ compared with other SES groups. Low SES applicants recorded a lower acceptance rate (76.1%) compared with medium SES applicants (76.8%) and high SES applicants (77.1%).

State and Territory

Tasmania recorded the largest proportion of low SES applicants (38.4%), almost three quarters of its low SES population share of (51.6%).⁷ Among all states and territories, the share of low SES applications in Victoria (16.7%) is the closest match to its low SES population share (19.0%).

Figure : Share of applicants and share of population for low SES applicants by state and territory, 2016

Note: The population share is the proportion of the population aged 15 to 64 years in low SES postcodes, based on SEIFA data from the 2011 Census.

Though offer rates for low SES applicants, excluding WA TAC applicants data, remained the same in 2015 and 2016, offer rates varied across states and territories. NSW and the ACT recorded positive growth in offer rates for low SES applicants. All other states and the NT experienced a decrease in offer rates for low SES applicants.
Low SES applicants were less likely to receive an offer compared with high SES applicants in NSW, Victoria and SA, ACT and the NT. Considering Tasmania has a low SES population share of 51.6%, the offer rate for high SES applicants reflects the relatively large number of interstate high SES applicants applying for entry to the University of Tasmania.
Table : Offer rates by SES by state (excluding WA TAC offers)*, 2015 and 2016

State/Territory	2015				2016
	Low SES	Medium SES	High SES	Total*	Low SES	Medium SES	High SES	Total*
NSW	83.5%	84.9%	86.1%	85.0%	85.2%	86.2%	85.5%	85.7%
VIC	77.5%	79.9%	83.9%	80.8%	76.9%	78.7%	81.7%	79.4%
QLD	87.2%	88.5%	86.9%	87.8%	86.8%	87.4%	85.7%	86.9%
WA	84.4%	85.7%	88.1%	85.7%	80.4%	80.6%	78.1%	79.4%
SA	76.3%	80.1%	83.5%	79.7%	75.6%	80.6%	86.0%	80.3%
TAS	93.9%	95.4%	93.5%	94.5%	92.3%	93.4%	92.3%	92.8%
ACT	75.0%	85.8%	86.6%	86.2%	76.0%	85.6%	86.7%	86.3%
NT	78.4%	75.9%	72.9%	75.9%	75.4%	76.6%	77.3%	76.7%
Australia**	82.7%	84.2%	85.5%	84.2%	82.7%	83.7%	84.1%	83.5%

* Offers made through WA tertiary admission centre are excluded due to the ‘half-year’ Year 12 cohort effect, but applications made directly by WA residents are included. Totals include missing /unknown postcodes which cannot be assigned to a state/territory.

**The Australia total includes data that could not be assigned an SES.

Field of Education

In comparison with high SES applicants, low SES applicants are more likely to apply for courses in Health and Education. They are less likely to apply for Management and Commerce, Society and Culture and Creative Arts and Natural and Physical Sciences courses than high SES applicants.
Figure : Proportion of applicants by SES and field of education, 2016

Type of University

Compared with low SES applicants, high SES applicants were more likely to apply to Go8 universities (13.7% and 34.8% respectively). On the other hand, 15.0% of low SES applicants applied for RUN university courses compared with 2.7% of high SES applicants.
Table : Applicants by SES and type of university (excluding WA TAC applicants)*, 2016

Type of university	Applicants			Share of applicants
	Low	Medium	High	Low	Medium	High
Group of Eight	8,957	29,814	32,393	13.7%	18.0%	34.8%
Australian Technology Network	10,123	26,027	17,972	15.5%	15.7%	19.3%
Innovative Research Universities	10,496	27,011	7,919	16.1%	16.3%	8.5%
Regional Universities Network	9,812	17,123	2,503	15.0%	10.3%	2.7%
Total**	65,239	165,713	93,096	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%

* Applications made through WA tertiary admission centre are excluded due to the ‘half-year’ Year 12 cohort effect, but applications made directly by WA residents are included. Totals include missing /unknown postcodes which cannot be assigned to a state/territory.

**Totals include applications for universities that are not aligned with a university group. Totals exclude data that could not be coded to an SES.

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