Students across the UK say they are skipping out on meals and are relying on their maintenance loans and any little help that they are getting from home. According to a survey one in four say they are in ‘danger’ of dropping out of university due to the living cost-of-crisis.
Most students have had to cut back on their social life and meals to be able to afford to pay their bills and most students are now working on the side of their degree. They have said that money worries are taking a toll on their mental health and are questioning their choices to go to university.
Cherry Webb, a creative production student at University of Huddersfield, said that they have had to be extremely careful of how much they are spending especially on food due to the inflation and sometimes has to skip meals. She said that she is “constantly” worried about her financial situation and that she is frequently “checking her online banking” to see if she can afford her next meal. She said that she is finding that she has to make “frequent cuts” to her shopping and not buying “treats” or “non-essential items” to save money. She said she has had to work alongside her degree and her maintenance loan is “not enough” for her to live on.
Drama student Cai Hughes, an undergraduate at Anglina Ruskin University in Cambridge said that they were struggling to pay for rent in Cambridge due to the inflation, and that he has had to get a job to work alongside his studies but is now also considering on “working an extra job on top of my current job just to make sure I’m earning enough to keep going”. He also said that working “alongside my intense course is leaving very little time for the uni social life,” and that it’s “taking a toll” of his mental health.
Media student Cerys Gage, an undergraduate at Cardiff University in Cardiff said that they have to live at home and commute to university as they cannot afford to move out. But this hasn’t worked out as well as they thought as the cost of travel is also increasing as she said that it’s “more expensive and eating more into my student finance” that she originally planned for travel. She said that it has had a “knock of effect on my motivation to do work as my energy is taken up from worrying about getting to uni and how much more it will cost me”. She’s now wondering if going to university was worth it as she now thinks that “it’s too much of a hassle getting there” or that it will “cost too much to get there”.
The government has said that students in England will receive an increase of 2.8% in maintenance loans and the Welsh government has said they will increase loans and grants for students by more than 9%.