Over recent months, the cost of living crisis facing students has quickly become one of the most discussed issues in higher education. Modest rises to student finance have been wiped out by record inflation and students remain largely overlooked in the range of support measures announced by the Government since April. Our recent report, ‘Learning with the lights off: students and the cost of living crisis’, warns that without immediate intervention, the crisis could lead to more than 300,000 students being at risk of financial hardship this autumn.
Recent analysis by UUK and the NUS has shown that two-thirds of students are worried about living costs, with many planning to cut essential spending on food, heating and transport. We at MillionPlus have built on this work by examining the HEPI / AdvanceHE Student Academic Experience Survey (SAES) in an effort to identify which students are most at-risk of financial hardship as the cost of living crisis bites. The responses, gathered prior to a summer of rising prices, suggest that large numbers of students will struggle.
