About the Applicant Index The Unite Students / HEPI Applicant Index is an annual survey that tracks the attitudes of higher education applicants. Now in its fourth year, it is the only broadly-based annual survey of applicants in the UK. This year’s report is based on a survey of 2,331 higher education applicants planning to start an undergraduate degree or degree apprenticeship in the 2025-26 academic year. An overview of the sample, including weighting applied, can be found in the Methodology section towards the end of this report. All demographic differences noted in the report are significant to the 99% confidence level unless otherwise stated. Notes on data categories Gender and sexuality Demographic data about gender identity and sexuality was collected via three distinct questions: a question about sexuality, a question about gender and the question “do you consider yourself to be trans?”. Responses from applicants that answered “Yes” to this latter question, and/or gave “non-binary” as their gender identity, are categorised “trans and non-binary” in the report. A separate question asked applicants how they think about themselves, with a list of different sexualities including “in another way”. Those who selected any other option apart from “heterosexual” or “prefer not to say” have been categorised as LGB+ within the report. Where there are significant differences in response to a survey question that apply for both LGB+ and trans and non- binary applicants, a combined category of LGBTQ+ may be used instead. Socioeconomic group Socioeconomic breakdown of the results uses the NRS Social Grade system, which assigns a category based on the main wage earner in the participant’s current household. There are six categories: A, B, C1, C2, D and E. Roughly, A represents the highest income households and E the lowest. A full definition of these categories can be found in the Methodology section. ABOUT Unite Students | Applicant Index Report 8 INTRODUCTION THEMATIC ANALYSIS METHODOLOGY TOPICAL ISSUES BACK TO CONTENTS