Students are facing an unprecedented rise in university living costs, sparking fears among experts that disadvantaged pupils may be forced to choose universities closer to home or scrap further education altogether.
The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) has warned financial support for students is failing to keep up with skyrocketing inflation, which is at its highest level since the start of the tuition fees era.
The real-terms value of maintenance loans, which make up the bulk of government support for university living costs, has slumped to a seven-year low, at the same time that the price of food, rent and energy bills has soared.
Maintenance loans for students from England will rise by just 2.3 per cent over the next academic year, well below current forecasts for inflation to hit 12 per cent in the autumn.
