Students need more funding

The maintenance loan available to students in higher education may have to be increased as many are forced to work in order to have enough money to even buy the most basic of necessities, it has been claimed. The increasing costs associated with going to university - including accommodation and tuition fees - mean that many students are forced to work through university, sponge off their parents or take out a bank loan - or even all three - in order to successfully navigate their way through the system.

According to the National Union of Students (NUS), the government has started to realise the severity of the situation, but has not yet taken significant remedial action to deal with the mounting problem.

"We're very pleased the government has now started to realise the perilous situation graduates find themselves in after their time at university but we don't necessarily think that they're so concerned that they're doing particularly massive things about it," a spokesperson for the representative body commented.

For the NUS' part, an increase in backing is certainly advocated and is something that should be legislated for as a matter of urgency.

"We certainly think the maintenance loan should be a maintenance loan in that you should be able to live off it, and if that isn't possible then it should be increased so students can live on it or, if they can, then a combination of that, the grant and the student support that they get," the spokesperson continued.

"It's difficult because it's different for different people and in different places. What we can measure, what we can prove is that more students are working, and we can only presume those students are working because they don't have enough money to buy essentials, so it may not be enough at the moment, but we certainly wouldn't agree with it being increased exponentially obviously, because debt is vastly unhelpful and to get into a culture of debt so early on is not going to do the student any good."

Students who are forced to secure funding over and above that provided for by a student loan are advised to shop around so that they find the best available bank loan.

The need to search for bank loan products has been highlighted by the fact that the disparity between the amount students have at their disposal and the amount spent has reached £3.2 billion - an increase of 167 per cent over the last ten years.