Parents are being left to pick up the tab as government support
for students is eroded to its lowest level in 7 years, with 38%
of students saying that they have had to rely on financial help
from family and friends.
The 14 year freeze in parental earning thresholds – used to
calculate student loans – has left poorer families shelling out
more each year to support their children at university.
The new government’s emergency budget on Friday is expected to
include measures to cut corporation tax and national insurance.
The nature of help offered to ordinary households, such as
the original Energy Bills Support Scheme means that students may
miss out on support which other people are receiving.
Students need money in their pockets now, especially as the value
of their loans hasn’t kept up with inflation. They risk becoming
the “forgotten group” in the cost of living crisis.
University leaders are warning that help for students must not
come out of the research budget. The commitment made by the
previous administration to spend 2.4% of GDP on Research and
Development will ensure that the UK retains and builds upon its
status as a science superpower.
Polling by Savanta
ComRes for Universities UK shows that anxiety about the
cost of living crisis is gripping the student population.
- Two thirds (67%) are concerned about managing their living
costs this autumn
- Over half of those concerned (55%) say this might prevent
them from continuing their studies.
- Postgraduate students - particularly those engaged in
research - are more likely to be concerned about costs than
undergraduates
Universities are already taking action to help students
struggling with hardship by boosting their emergency financial
assistance funds. They will be stepping up their support over the
coming months to address the cost of living, and want to work
with government to ensure students – from undergraduates to PhDs
– are supported through this crisis. It is unclear how
business support will work at this stage, but universities will
do their utmost to pass on savings to students.
Universities would like to do even more to help, but the tuition
fee freeze in England means that they are already operating with
a severely stretched funding base. Students worrying about their
financial situation are urged to seek practical advice and
wellbeing support from their university to help them through
these difficult times.
Professor Steve West CBE, President of Universities UK
and Vice-Chancellor of UWE Bristol, said:
“Students risk becoming the forgotten group in the cost of living
crisis. We need the government to work with us and provide
targeted hardship funding to protect them now, before their
living costs become so high that they are unable to keep
studying.
The value of maintenance loans has been steadily eroded. Parents
and families are struggling with bills themselves – now they are
having to pick up the tab and support their children directly due
to declining levels of government support.”
Universities are calling for:
•
Targeted government hardship funding for UK students
•
The reinstatement of maintenance grants for those most in need
•
Action to ensure that support for students is protected against
inflation
•
Increased financial support for postgraduate researchers
•
Ensuring that any government action to support people with rising
costs, such as energy, can be accessed by students across the UK,
including those in halls
Notes to Editors
- According to the Institute for Fiscal Studies, the value of
the maintenance loan for the poorest students outside London,
living away from home, is at its lowest level in 7
years: https://ifs.org.uk/articles/student-living-cost-support-cut-lowest-level-seven-years
