Cost of living crisis forcing students to take on more hours of paid work

The cost of living crisis is forcing more university students to take on more hours in their part-time jobs, with most saying that supporting themselves is affecting their studies, according to a new study.

More than half of the 10,000 students surveyed by the Higher Education Policy Institute (Hepi) said they did paid work during term time, with most saying they were using their wages to support their studies.

“The results highlight that financial concerns are felt across the board, and particularly by disadvantaged students, indicating a need for the sector to treat this as a matter of priority,” the authors said.

In 2021, the survey found that 34% of UK students had jobs while studying, rising to 45% last year and 55% this year. The survey found that 28% of students working 10 or more hours of paid work said they needed the money to cover most of their living costs.

On average students did paid work for 13.5 hours each week, with 14% saying they needed the income to pay for most or all of their costs. Older students, aged over 26, and those with children or caring responsibilities were also more likely to need to work for extra income.

Nick Hillman, Hepi’s director, said students who did long hours of paid work on top of their studies were in a “danger zone” of academic underachievement.

“Everybody in the survey are full-time students so they should all be doing something similar to a full-time job,” Hillman said.

“If you’re doing 17 hours paid work or 20 hours paid work on top of that, that’s when it really affects your studies and it makes you more likely to drop out [and] less likely to do well in your degree.”

A spokesperson for advocacy organisation University UK said: “This data definitively shows that students’ university experience is being negatively impacted by the cost of living crisis, with further support needed from governments.”

The next cohort of students in England face even more challenging prospects after graduation, according to consumer finance guru Martin Lewis.

Lewis said a series of “subtle but massive” changes to the student loans system that come into force from September will mean some repaying up to twice as much of their loans compared with earlier graduates.

The changes mean that a graduate who studies in England and later earns £30,000 will repay £450 a year, compared with one who graduated this year repaying just £243 on the same salary.

The government’s changes lower the earning threshold at which student loan repayments begin, from £27,295 to £25,000, while the repayment term is extended from 30 years to 40 years. That means 52% of graduates are expected to repay their loans in full, compared with 23% at the moment.

“On the surface it looks like a tweak, in practice it will increase the cost by over 50% for many typical graduates and double it for a few,” Lewis said.