Next Thursday 9th May, HEPI and TechnologyOne
will launch a major new report on student
maintenance. That report will show, for the first time,
how much it costs for students to have a minimum acceptable
standard of living.
We are hosting a press briefing for that report
next Tuesday, 7 May at 9:30am: colleagues representing a media
organisation are invited to sign up here. We are
also hosting a webinar on 9 May to explore and discuss the new
report: you can sign up for that
here.
Ahead of that report, we are pleased to bring you exclusive new
polling revealing students' attitudes to the cost-of-living
crisis. The polling, of more than 2,000 students, was conducted
by Savanta. Around 1,300 were undergraduates, 500 were
postgraduates and 200 pre-degree students.
Our results show that:
- Nearly three-fifths of students (58%) say their financial
situation has got worse over the last year, with a third (33%)
saying they are at risk of dropping out as a result.
- Three-fifths (60%) say money concerns affected which
university they chose to go to.
- More than half (54%) say their financial situation has
affected their mental health.
- If students received an extra £500, nearly half (47%) would
put it into savings and a quarter (24%) would spend it on
groceries.
- By contrast, if they had £500 less to spend, students would
cut back on social activities (42%), nights out (40%) and do more
paid work (42%).
- Just over a third (36%) of English students think the system
of maintenance support in their country is fair, compared with
58% of Welsh students, 59% of Scottish students and 37% of
Northern Irish students.
- The vast majority of students (86%) are more likely to ask
for support if they can do so easily online.
- Only three-in-10 students (30%) are satisfied with their
institution's response to the cost-of-living crisis.
Josh Freeman, Policy Manager at HEPI and author of the research,
said:
The Prime Minister has told us ‘the plan is working' and people
are starting to see the benefits of a recovering economy. These
results suggest the benefits of any economic upturn have not been
felt by students.
The financial situation of many, already challenging, has
worsened in the last year. The high number of students indicating
they are at risk of dropping out should set off alarm bells, as
these students are hard-working and capable enough to be in
higher education, but they may no longer be able to stay there.
Just as worrying is what students must give up to stay in higher
education – social events, extracurricular experiences, and good
grades, in favour of cutting back and taking on ever more hours
of part-time work.
