Even with grants for Higher Education etc some families were too poor to let their 16 year olds to stay on at school for the sixth form.
Oh agreed, Jalima.
I was the lucky one in the family. My siblings didn't benefit from a University education, although they have done well for themselves in terms of career. Today, we'd have all stayed on at school and gone to Uni, as my children have done. It was a huge sacrifice for my parents to allow me to have two years in the sixth form and three years away studying. It really meant no more income for the household. I remember my Dad sending me postal orders for paltry amounts so I could pay for the coach home instead of hitch-hiking. I worked through every student break as my parents couldn't really afford me to live off them without contributing. Times were very hard. Dad was also hit by all the wild cat strikes of the 60s and 70s and I remember him crying at the kitchen table late at night because we had very little coming in to the house.
