More young people than ever before are choosing to study degrees from home, according to figures released today by the Open University.
The country's largest provider of part-time and distance learning courses has seen admissions from students aged under 24 almost double in the past five years. One in every 12 of the 220,000 OU students are now 24 or younger.
The increasing costs of full-time higher education are putting students off full-time degree courses, according to Professor Allan Cochrane, pro-vice-chancellor in charge of students and academic quality and standards at the university.
"We're finding that the cost of going to other universities is putting people off and they are turning to the OU instead," he said. "When you consider that OU students do not have to find the money to live away from home and that our fees are significantly lower, it is not altogether surprising."
Professor Cochrane also said an increasing number of people do not want to study for three years before embarking on a career. Instead they want to combine starting a career and studying as soon as they finish school, which is possible.
Some students enrolling at the OU have tried studying at other universities, but have disliked the lifestyle, including what was described as "the lack of a strong work ethic".
The number of OU undergraduate students aged under 24 in the UK has risen from 5,894 in 1996/97 to 11,360 in 2000/01 - about the total number of students at many other UK universities. In 1996/97 students in this age group represented 5.3% of the total number of OU undergraduate students; the figure for 2000/01 was 8.5%.
The rise in the number of OU students aged 21 or under is even more striking; it has risen from 1,543 in 1996/97 to 4,313 in 2000/01.
Two-thirds of the students aged 21 and under are women. Of all students in this age bracket who join the OU for undergraduate study, almost half of those who do not already have a first degree have qualifications that could take them into a conventional university.
Just under a quarter of all part-time higher education students in the UK study with the OU. Unlike other universities, there are no entry qualifications to the university's undergraduate courses.