While some get government support with energy bills and housing costs, students are being left out. This especially applies to international and other students who cannot get a maintenance loan from Student Finance England or a bursary from their university. For these groups, the cost-of-living crisis is particularly hard.
Ninety one per cent of higher education students who took part in a survey by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) reported that their cost of living had increased since last year. And 25% of those students had therefore taken on new debt, in the form of borrowing or more credit. Of these, 66% said they did this because their student loan was not enough to support their increased living costs.
Asked by the ONS how this was affecting their studies, 29% said that they were skipping non-mandatory lectures or 1-2-1 tutorials to save on traveling costs. In addition to that, four in ten students were studying more at home to save on costs, with 27% traveling to their university, college, or higher education provider less frequently, and 21% attending lectures remotely where possible.
As an international student myself, I am struggling with the cost-of-living crisis as well. As well as attending my lectures, I now have to work two to three days a week to afford my rent and food. This year has been tougher than my other two years in the UK. In fact every year I have had a different issue to deal with. In my first year COVID meant we spent the whole year in lockdown. In my second year we were dealing with post-lockdown. And now in my third year we are struggling with the cost-of-living crisis.
I spoke to two students from the University of East London (UEL) about their experiences. Both said that they are struggling a lot, and that they are either in debt or about to go into debt.
Carissa, 20, is a Journalism student from the United States. She currently finds it hard to pay for groceries and travel and still be able to go out and meet up with friends. Carissa moved off campus this year since it was cheaper for her. She pays almost £350 less than she did in university accommodation last year. That was a good move, as university rents are expected to rise to 5 % next year due to the cost of living crisis. Nevertheless, she cannot keep this £350 for herself, as travel and groceries keep rising as well.
For her, it is also hard at the moment since her family live a seven-to-eight-hour flight away and cannot help her out. Also UEL will not allow her to travel home and study online instead.
You can here more about her struggles below:
Annie, 22, is a criminology student from South Wales. Annie told me that she needed to skip her lectures at the beginning of the year to save money, but as her studies became more crucial she had to stop that. This meant she cut down her working days to two days a week and now she does not earn enough money for her rent and groceries. Since she lives on the Docklands campus, she can take the free university bus to her lectures and to work, as they both take place in Stratford. But she normally finishes work at 10 pm, and the last bus back to Docklands leaves at 10 pm so she needs to pay for travel home, which adds up. When asked her how she is dealing with everything she told me that she was receiving mental health support from professionals.
You can listen to what she has to day below:
For me, things are made more difficult by the fact that I have been waiting six months for Student Finance England to sort out the financial support that I am entitled to. And until that is sorted I am unable to apply for other bursaries that might be available to me. If I am in this position, I am sure other students are too: trapped in a foreign country unable to afford to fly home, and unabale to afford to live.