NUS warns student results will suffer with credit crunch
Students’ results are likely to fall as the credit crunch forces more of them to work to fund their living costs, the National Union of Students warned today.
Some 46% of students who work during term time are forced to do so because their basic living costs exceed their loans, according to the NUS survey.
It showed that of the 3,145 students questioned, 45% of those that work say that their job has a negative impact on their studies.
The majority (78%) of students undertake paid work while at university but only 35% work during term time, according to the NUS’ three-year research project into students’ experiences before, during and after their studies.
Of those that work during term time, a third work more than 17 hours a week, while 3% work more than 33 hours, the study found. The average is 14 hours.
The number of hours depends on why students work – those working longer hours are more likely to be working to meet basic living costs or pay for books or other study equipment.
But the most popular reasons given for working are to pay for extras such as clothes, holidays and socialising (62%).
NUS vice president for higher education, Aaron Porter, said: “It is clear from this report that financial support is inadequate for many students.
“With a recession looming and basic living costs set to rise, this situation is going to get even worse.
“Only a few months ago, the first Student Price Index found that inflation is effectively 50% higher for students than for the rest of society – many of them will have to work longer and longer hours just to get by.
“It is particularly worrying that nearly half of those students who work during term time admit that their studies are being adversely affected,” he said.
“NUS would like universities to recognise that many of their students have to work to top up their income, and to make suitable allowances in order to enable them to manage their workload more effectively.”
The higher education minister, David Lammy, said the government was providing more financial help to students to make sure that anyone who can benefit from higher education has the opportunity to do so.
“We have brought back non-repayable grants and greatly expanded the numbers who get them, with about two thirds of eligible new undergraduates expected to get a grant this year,” he said.
“Together with loans available for tuition fees and living costs and bursaries that universities offer, the improved package of support means nobody should be put off considering higher education for financial reasons.
“All students need the facts about the costs of higher education but the benefits of having a degree should also be made clear.”
Lammy repeated the government’s assertion that graduates can expect to earn considerably more over their careers than those workers without a degree.
“The average graduate earns over £100,000 more over their lifetime compared to someone who has A-levels,” he said.
But recent Higher Education Policy Institute research suggested that graduates from less prestigious universities earn less.
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