Survey highlights generation debt

Citation

(2001), "Survey highlights generation debt", Education + Training, Vol. 43 No. 7. https://doi.org/10.1108/et.2001.00443gab.004

Survey highlights generation debt

Survey highlights generation debtKeywords: Students, Debt, Income, United Kingdom

One in five UK students are so concerned about mounting debt that they may not be able to afford to graduate, according to Hobsons' national student survey. More than a quarter of all students struggle to live on £200 a month or less and a fifth find they have to work to make ends meet. Almost one in ten students spend double the time allocated to study and lectures in paid employment. While desperate for cash, almost half of students feel they are offered loans from banks too easily. Only 12 per cent said they had experienced problems getting a bank loan.

The longer students are at university, the more likely it is that they will undertake paid work to accompany their studies. Fourth-year students generally earn around £50 a month more than their first-year counterparts. Students work 19 hours a month, on average, with 7 per cent of students putting in more than 76 hours of paid work in that time. While four students in ten rely on an overdraft during term time, only 3 per cent use it as their main source of funding. The student loan is the most-heavily-relied-upon source of income among students – two-thirds of students have one. More than half of students remain reliant upon their parents for income contributions throughout university.