This blog was kindly contributed by Leo Hanna, Executive Vice President at TechnologyOne
Cost-of-living and student welfare have dominated the UK headlines of late, with the cost of food, energy and accommodation outpacing maintenance support. After so many students have already missed out on much of the traditional university experience during the pandemic, they are now feeling the pinch as the cost of living spirals.
To better understand what such financial pressure meant for students’ university experience, we worked with Opinium to survey a representative sample of more than 1,000 university students across the UK.[1]
The picture painted wasn’t pretty. The data show seven-in-ten students have considered dropping out of higher education since starting their degree. Nearly two-fifths of those gave rising living costs as the main reason, while 69% of all students admitted to adjusting their spending over the last term because of the rising cost of living.
Half of students reported having to cut back on eating out and nights out (54% and 50%), more than a third are cutting back on heating (36%), while a third are reducing their spending on basic groceries. In addition to maintenance loans, more than half of students (52%) now report having a full or part-time job to fund their ‘basic lifestyle’ at university and afford their rent, utilities and food. Overall, more than half of students (54%) claimed that rising costs are ‘ruining’ their university experience.
