The UK is often regarded as a country with relatively high barriers to university entry and relatively low drop-out rates from an international perspective, although there have been marked changes in degree acquisition relative to other countries over time. For example, Blundell et al. (2014) show that there has been a huge increase in the proportion of individuals from different birth cohorts with a degree in the UK, while the change in the US has been much less marked: amongst those born 1960-64 in the UK, 16% had acquired a degree by age 30, while amongst those born twenty years later, this figure had risen to 44%. The equivalent figures for the US are 24% and 34%.