Cost of living crisis forces students into multiple jobs
Professor Evelyn Welch, of the University of Bristol, said the cost of living crisis meant students were no longer able to devote much free time to sports and cultural activities.
School-leavers received their A-level, BTEC and T-level results on Thursday and hundreds of thousands are heading to university.
Tuition fees have increased this year to £9,535, and while the maximum maintenance loan has also gone up, it still falls well short of covering rent and basic living expenses for many.
A report from the Higher Education Policy Institute (Hepi) revealed said that to have a minimum socially acceptable standard of living, a student needs about £61,000 over the course of a three-year degree, excluding tuition, or £77,000 if studying in London.
However, families with a household income of more than £70,000 only qualify for annual maintenance loans of £4,915 for outside London and £6,871 for London or £14,745 and £20,613 respectively over a three-year degree. This leaves a funding gap of up to £56,000, forcing students who live away from home to work more than 20 hours a week at the national minimum wage during term time to plug the gap.
Bridget Phillipson, the education secretary, said last week that she wanted all students to be able to take up internships and study trips rather than those from poorer backgrounds being deterred from opportunities because of the need to take on paid work.
Jo Saxton, head of the admissions service Ucas, said there had been an increase in British 19-year-olds applying to university as more young people want to raise funds before university. Bristol traditionally has an affluent intake and was the fifth most popular university destination for privately educated leavers last year, but Welch said describing it as elitist was outdated and that cost pressures were hitting students.
She said: 'My job is to ensure Bristol is seen for its full opportunity for everyone, where you leave having made great friends, an amazing time and connections that will serve you for the rest of your life.
'The vast majority of our students come from state schools. And we are delighted that they're able to play hockey, that they're able to row, that they might pick up an instrument for the first time, that they are able to do drama. All the kinds of things that might have been associated at one time with privilege, actually we want to give them to all our students, wherever they come from.
'That is made harder, though, not by Bristol's reputation, but by the fact that the maintenance grant hasn't been uprated in years. So the thing that worries me most is that for most of our students, they're doing not just one job [or], not just two jobs, but sometimes three jobs.
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'All the things that made Bristol really special, which was the extracurriculars that you could do alongside your study, they are being squeezed.'
She added: 'The time to grow and to develop and to explore and to create a new sense of who you are, that's what's being squeezed at the moment. Every student deserves some time for that, wherever they come from, whatever their background.'
Welch said students were doing bar and restaurant work to help pay for their rent and travel costs and that the maintenance grant did not cover their day-to-day expenses.
Students are having to pick between clubs because they cannot afford multiple pursuits. She added: 'Scrimping and saving as a student, there's nothing new about that. But this is such an important time to really be curious, to explore, and above all, to connect and make friends.
'As we know, with AI coming in a big way into many jobs, it will be the social skills that you develop, your resilience, your flexibility, your adaptability, which will be the thing that employers are looking for, not just the degree outcome.'
The university has increased its hardship funding but she worries most about those whose parental income is just too high to meet the criteria for a bursary.
Welch, the mother of Florence Welch from Florence + The Machine, said some students arrive at university and start thinking about graduation straight after freshers' week.
She added: 'For some students, going to university is a family decision. It's a family investment. And we as universities are aware that we need to ensure that we value our students and that students get value for money for the long term debt that they're taking on.'
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