Rent burden 'leads to student stress

Rent burden 'leads to student stress

Students are suffering from stress and anxiety caused by the pressures of housing costs, a survey has suggested.
Student in room (posed by model)
Average rent for student accommodation totals £131 a week, eating up nearly all of a typical maintenance loan or grant, even before a typical £509 in upfront letting fees and deposit are taken into account.
The maintenance loan is designed to cover living costs, is separate from the student loan to pay for tuition fees, and is dependent on family household income.
The survey, by student finance website Save The Student, claims that the average award leaves a typical UK student with only £8 a week for all other living costs such as food, travel and toiletries, after the rent has been paid.
"The fact that the maintenance loan barely covers students' rent is shocking. Students are forced to get a job at the expense of their studies or rely on their parents who may struggle to support them," says Jake Butler, operations director at the website.
"Forget about tuition fees and high interest rates. Now that the government are finally reviewing the student finance system, a fairer maintenance loan should be at the top of their agenda."
So how do students cope financially? Here, three explain how they have tried to keep the costs down.

Living at home

Fiona Scott is studying social science in Edinburgh and decided to move back home owing, in part, to the financial difficulties she faced.
It means the 20-year-old now faces a commute, by bus, of up to two hours to get to lectures and classes five days a week.
"I wanted to stay part of the student experience but there are a lot of hidden costs," she says.
"I have seen people crash and burn financially in their first month. Others have had problems having to wait for a grant to come through on time. It put them in a hard position.
"I moved because I was exhausted. It means I have saved money overall."

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Comparing World University Rankings: THE, QS and Shanghai

Image
Today, the  Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2018  was released, with the  University of Oxford  remaining in first place for a second consecutive year. But how does this year’s THE ranking compare to the from earlier this year? Or to the Shanghai Ranking, also published earlier this year, in which Harward University was ranked the best in the world for the 15 th  consecutive year? Read on for a closer look at the top 10 from each of these major world university rankings, and the key similarities and differences between them. lthough there are some variations across each ranking, seven universities appear in the top 10 of all three. These universities are: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford University, Harvard University, California Institute of Technology and University of Chicago in the US, and the University of Cambridge and University of Oxford in the UK. Interestingly, only one university from ou...
Read more

Lecturers walk out in row over pensions

Image
Lecturers at universities across Scotland are taking part in a strike in a row over pensions. The University and College Union (UCU) said members at nine Scottish universities were walking-out along with staff from the Open University. The strike is part of UK-wide action , which the union said would see 14 days of escalating strikes over four weeks. Employers, Universities UK called the action "disappointing" and said the pension scheme had a deficit of £6bn. The UCU warned that 145,000 university students attending courses at universities in Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Heriot-Watt, St Andrews, Stirling, Strathclyde and the Scottish Association for Marine Science at the University of the Highlands and Islands would be affected by the walk-out. University strikes: What's it all about? Uni strikes 'much more likely' as talks deadlocked University finances face £17.5bn pensions squeeze It is planned to last from Thursday through to Wednes...
Read more