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A working paper by the University of Warwick and the Institute for Fiscal Studies investigated differences by socio-economic background in the likelihood of UK students dropping out of university, completing a degree within five years, and graduating with a first or upper second class degree.
The study found that among young people on the same course of study, students from the most impoverished backgrounds were 3.4 percentage points more likely to drop out within two years than were students from the most advantaged socio-economic backgrounds. Students from the lowest socio-economic backgrounds were also 5.3 percentage points less likely to complete their degree.
Source: Socio-economic differences in university outcomes in the UK: drop-out, degree completion and degree class (2014), The Institute for Fiscal Studies