Get ready: More freshers are going to be at your uni next year than ever before

Teeming hordes of freshers are about to descend on your uni as the record demand for degrees continues to rise.

Disturbing new figures published today reveal over half a million naive teenagers applied to uni through UCAS — a two per cent increase on the year before.

In total 592,290 applications were sent to UCAS by the 15th January deadline, almost 10,000 more than the previous record in 2011, just before tuition fees went up to nine grand.

A breakdown of the stats also shows a rise in applications from the most disadvantaged backgrounds from 18 per cent in 2010 to 21 per cent in 2014.

The number of 18 and 19-year-old applicants is climbing while submissions from older age groups is dropping.

Research shows the gender gap has widened as women are 36 per cent more likely to apply to uni than men in England.

UCAS boss Mary Curnock Cook is ecstatic about the spike in applications.

Mary, 56, said: “Demand for UK higher education, notably from younger people and from EU countries, has continued to rise in 2015. It is heartening to see the gap between rich and poor continue to narrow.

“Nevertheless, demand has grown more slowly this year and has fallen for mature students. This perhaps reflects improved employment prospects in the UK.”