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Coding by occupation may be an alternative to the postcode measure of university entrants' social class, but the data-gathering needs to improve (Leader, THES, May 3).

The occupational code of many mature students is not known. A much simpler measure of low family income would be the proportion of students who receive full or partial fee remission.

About one-third of UK students pay no fees, one-third get partial relief and one-third pay full fees. This contrasts with the University of North London, where 64 per cent pay no fees, 16 per cent pay part fees and only 20 per cent pay full fees.

Robert Gilchrist

University of North London