I used to do this back in the day, in my second and third years.
Most uni students do this. It’s disgusting that it has to happen but it does unfortunately.
“In December, as prices and inflation continued to rise, she was working up to 45 hours a week to afford her rent.
Her rent is currently £107 a week, but it will rise from September, and her weekly bills are already going up.”
I’m sorry – what?
If you’re having to work 45 hours to cover your rent and weekly bills as a student, we’re clearly not getting the whole picture. Where’s her maintenance loan and grants?
I was lucky at uni as I got a part time job at the university canteen, they allowed us to fit shifts around our lectures. But working 20 hours a week definitely negatively impacted my grades. Universities should provide free accommodation for all students. My student loan was only around £3k a year and I had to make up the rest – it was impossible
One of my colleagues is a uni student who is doing almost full-time hours. He doesn’t have a choice. His maintenance loan doesn’t cover rent and he never really feels caught up with uni work.
It does baffle me how some students are expected to live on 12k a year If they don’t work.
If you’re studying full time then you shouldn’t be expected to work over 12-20 hours per week in order to survive.
I’ve done full time study alongside full time working and I barely lasted a year. It’s so stressful.
When I was at uni 5 years ago my maintenance loan barely covered rent. Without help from parents I’d have been fucked. And that was before prices went crazy
The isn’t news. I’ve not met anyone (who doesn’t rely on family money) who hasn’t had to work to survive uni. I’m London based, get the full amount and still it’s not nearly enough to even cover just rent. I’m ‘mature’ and I just wasn’t entertaining the idea of cheap accommodation so yes it’s partly on me but it’s prohibitive for so many. I’m lucky my partner of a decade believes in this with me, but I have really no idea how the kids manage it. If I’d left college and done this, I’d be hilariously fucked.
I’m struggling on the maximum (edit: MINIMUM) *Welsh* student loan (edit: which is the same as the maximum English student loan). The problem is food. A weekly shop can easily exceed £35 for one person, which absolutely wasn’t the case even a year ago.
If I didn’t have bills-included accommodation I’d be hundreds in debt. I have no idea how these people manage (well, they don’t. food bank usage increases every year, and benefits are being used to top up wages).
The tories do not want poor people to be well-educated – it’s one of the main reasons they stay in power
The dirty secret in academia right now is that the student fees don’t cover the cost of running a uni, and the student loans don’t cover the cost of attending university. And government doesn’t have answers for either.
Even on the max loan your living pretty minimal as your usually left with little a term
Uni lecturer here.
I went to uni 2010-2013 and very few of my peers worked whilst studying. Usually at most a weekend shift or couple evenings bar work. It was by no means a posh uni or posh students!
Now, nearly all of my students have a job and it makes them miss lectures etc. I was genuinely surprised by how many have a job whilst studying.
Most be those evil avocado toasts and insufficient bootstrap pulling striking again /s
Okay… I had to do this sometimes and so did everyone I knew.
Not surprised at all.
England’s student loans system is appallingly inept and frequently does not even cover accomodation costs. I had to do the same as did many estranged students and those who had come to uni from abusive households who would not cooperate with student finance applications.
So many students I have studied with have done escort work, porn, overseas egg donation or surrogacy to pay for their studied & basic living expenses.
All healthy full time students without children should be eligible for the same maintainence loans, the minimum of which should be enought to cover local ‘student only’ accomodations costs on campus or from local private student accomodation providers.
I am a University student. I share rent with my long time girlfriend and student loan doesn’t even cover rent for me. I recieve no financial support from my family and have to work. There is no other way. I am at uni full time and work 21 hours a week along side. Has it had its impact on my studies? Without a doubt. Will I pass uni? Sure. But it’s ruined the uni expirience for me in my opinion.
Can hardly be optimal to study full time, when over half your week is working to pay the bills
2015, a girl on my degree had to drop out after not attending lectures for two months because she couldn’t afford rent and was eating rice to survive. If my parents didn’t have enough to pay my rent and I didn’t budget like I did and never go anywhere I wouldn’t have been able to afford university. I’m a doctor now because of that, education in the UK is 100% dictated by your family money. I’m now looking to relocate because with my PhD in the UK in a STEM field I’m struggling to see a sustainable future for myself. This country is a joke when it comes to education and postgraduate salaries.
Even 12 years back I had a mate that disappeared from uni mid way through the second year due to money issues, he stopped turning up to lecturers as he was depressed and trying to make money/ get a job. I think he opened 4 bank accounts and used the £500 overdraft on all then just disappeared and stopped paying rent so after 4 months his house mates broke down his door and kept his stuff ransom for rent, he never came back or responded so they sold his stuff for a few hundred at the end kf the year. I saw him once in London years later and he was doing minimum wage work to pay back debts but I think he must have quit after seeing me because he never appeared at the bar again that he was meant to work at and seemed to want to be anonymous and avoid debt coming after him (I asked about the rent but it didnt effect me) from what I gather.. very sad.
This isn’t really cost of living now.. I did this 12 years ago myself.. finished with non-student debt and a 1st class..
Oh did I also mention that it destroyed my mental health, left me on the brink of suicide and blew my immune system up like a fucking powder keg thrown on to a BBQ? .. no.. or well yeah… I wouldn’t reccomend it. Fucking hate what capitalism has done to us all.
If they are recorded why wouldn’t you?
Lectures were shown to be a terrible way to teach people, they are however a very cheap way to teach large numbers of people.
And lets face it most people didn’t turn up to 9am lectures because they were too hungover anyway.
So, a working student? I didn’t go to uni in the UK but this is kind of common in other countries? I understand that this specific case has to do with living costs but for other reasons that is… not abnormal? It is obviously bad because someone can’t focus on studying but it’s unfortunately the reality
That’s sad. I only skipped mine for an important morning (or early afternoon) meeting with Duvet and Partners.
This has been a thing for ages.
I went to uni a decade ago, and I regularly worked at least all weekend and some evenings to keep afloat. I studied languages and remember cracking out my flashcards while working some shitty customer service job.
25 comments
I used to do this back in the day, in my second and third years.
Most uni students do this. It’s disgusting that it has to happen but it does unfortunately.
“In December, as prices and inflation continued to rise, she was working up to 45 hours a week to afford her rent.
Her rent is currently £107 a week, but it will rise from September, and her weekly bills are already going up.”
I’m sorry – what?
If you’re having to work 45 hours to cover your rent and weekly bills as a student, we’re clearly not getting the whole picture. Where’s her maintenance loan and grants?
I was lucky at uni as I got a part time job at the university canteen, they allowed us to fit shifts around our lectures. But working 20 hours a week definitely negatively impacted my grades. Universities should provide free accommodation for all students. My student loan was only around £3k a year and I had to make up the rest – it was impossible
One of my colleagues is a uni student who is doing almost full-time hours. He doesn’t have a choice. His maintenance loan doesn’t cover rent and he never really feels caught up with uni work.
It does baffle me how some students are expected to live on 12k a year If they don’t work.
If you’re studying full time then you shouldn’t be expected to work over 12-20 hours per week in order to survive.
I’ve done full time study alongside full time working and I barely lasted a year. It’s so stressful.
When I was at uni 5 years ago my maintenance loan barely covered rent. Without help from parents I’d have been fucked. And that was before prices went crazy
The isn’t news. I’ve not met anyone (who doesn’t rely on family money) who hasn’t had to work to survive uni. I’m London based, get the full amount and still it’s not nearly enough to even cover just rent. I’m ‘mature’ and I just wasn’t entertaining the idea of cheap accommodation so yes it’s partly on me but it’s prohibitive for so many. I’m lucky my partner of a decade believes in this with me, but I have really no idea how the kids manage it. If I’d left college and done this, I’d be hilariously fucked.
I’m struggling on the maximum (edit: MINIMUM) *Welsh* student loan (edit: which is the same as the maximum English student loan). The problem is food. A weekly shop can easily exceed £35 for one person, which absolutely wasn’t the case even a year ago.
If I didn’t have bills-included accommodation I’d be hundreds in debt. I have no idea how these people manage (well, they don’t. food bank usage increases every year, and benefits are being used to top up wages).
The tories do not want poor people to be well-educated – it’s one of the main reasons they stay in power
The dirty secret in academia right now is that the student fees don’t cover the cost of running a uni, and the student loans don’t cover the cost of attending university. And government doesn’t have answers for either.
Even on the max loan your living pretty minimal as your usually left with little a term
Uni lecturer here.
I went to uni 2010-2013 and very few of my peers worked whilst studying. Usually at most a weekend shift or couple evenings bar work. It was by no means a posh uni or posh students!
Now, nearly all of my students have a job and it makes them miss lectures etc. I was genuinely surprised by how many have a job whilst studying.
Most be those evil avocado toasts and insufficient bootstrap pulling striking again /s
Okay… I had to do this sometimes and so did everyone I knew.
Not surprised at all.
England’s student loans system is appallingly inept and frequently does not even cover accomodation costs. I had to do the same as did many estranged students and those who had come to uni from abusive households who would not cooperate with student finance applications.
So many students I have studied with have done escort work, porn, overseas egg donation or surrogacy to pay for their studied & basic living expenses.
All healthy full time students without children should be eligible for the same maintainence loans, the minimum of which should be enought to cover local ‘student only’ accomodations costs on campus or from local private student accomodation providers.
I am a University student. I share rent with my long time girlfriend and student loan doesn’t even cover rent for me. I recieve no financial support from my family and have to work. There is no other way. I am at uni full time and work 21 hours a week along side. Has it had its impact on my studies? Without a doubt. Will I pass uni? Sure. But it’s ruined the uni expirience for me in my opinion.
Can hardly be optimal to study full time, when over half your week is working to pay the bills
2015, a girl on my degree had to drop out after not attending lectures for two months because she couldn’t afford rent and was eating rice to survive. If my parents didn’t have enough to pay my rent and I didn’t budget like I did and never go anywhere I wouldn’t have been able to afford university. I’m a doctor now because of that, education in the UK is 100% dictated by your family money. I’m now looking to relocate because with my PhD in the UK in a STEM field I’m struggling to see a sustainable future for myself. This country is a joke when it comes to education and postgraduate salaries.
Even 12 years back I had a mate that disappeared from uni mid way through the second year due to money issues, he stopped turning up to lecturers as he was depressed and trying to make money/ get a job. I think he opened 4 bank accounts and used the £500 overdraft on all then just disappeared and stopped paying rent so after 4 months his house mates broke down his door and kept his stuff ransom for rent, he never came back or responded so they sold his stuff for a few hundred at the end kf the year. I saw him once in London years later and he was doing minimum wage work to pay back debts but I think he must have quit after seeing me because he never appeared at the bar again that he was meant to work at and seemed to want to be anonymous and avoid debt coming after him (I asked about the rent but it didnt effect me) from what I gather.. very sad.
This isn’t really cost of living now.. I did this 12 years ago myself.. finished with non-student debt and a 1st class..
Oh did I also mention that it destroyed my mental health, left me on the brink of suicide and blew my immune system up like a fucking powder keg thrown on to a BBQ? .. no.. or well yeah… I wouldn’t reccomend it. Fucking hate what capitalism has done to us all.
If they are recorded why wouldn’t you?
Lectures were shown to be a terrible way to teach people, they are however a very cheap way to teach large numbers of people.
And lets face it most people didn’t turn up to 9am lectures because they were too hungover anyway.
So, a working student? I didn’t go to uni in the UK but this is kind of common in other countries? I understand that this specific case has to do with living costs but for other reasons that is… not abnormal? It is obviously bad because someone can’t focus on studying but it’s unfortunately the reality
That’s sad. I only skipped mine for an important morning (or early afternoon) meeting with Duvet and Partners.
This has been a thing for ages.
I went to uni a decade ago, and I regularly worked at least all weekend and some evenings to keep afloat. I studied languages and remember cracking out my flashcards while working some shitty customer service job.
It’s a shit situation.