Student loans fall short as living costs force students to work while studying

Thousands of students in England say their maintenance loans do not cover everyday living costs, a trend highlighted by fresh research from the Higher Education Policy Institute. Hepi’s analysis suggests that a three-year degree requires around £61,000 for a minimally acceptable standard of living, while the maximum annual maintenance loan for students living away from home outside London now sits at about £10,544. Save the Student’s survey published this week indicates that maintenance loans fall short of living costs by roughly £502 per month on average, prompting many students to take part-time work or longer commutes during term time.

Tianna Hunkins, a 19-year-old in her second year at Northumbria University, is among those balancing study with paid work. She receives a maintenance loan of £4,915 for the current academic year, far below her rent of £7,932. 'My maintenance loan doesn’t cover my rent,' she says, noting that her parents are able to help with accommodation so the loan can cover other essentials such as food, transport, socialising and law books. Tianna has already shown how the shortfall shapes a typical student week: she returns from a 16:00 lecture to change into her work uniform and start a shift at a nearby fast-food restaurant, often finishing around 02:00. She says, 'I always make it on time,' though she sometimes misses opportunities, such as a legal internship she could not take because she was working. After applying for over 100 jobs, she landed the fast-food role in the second term of first year and has been juggling about 30 hours a week on top of her lectures. When public transport is unavailable late at night, she sometimes spends £8 on an Uber to avoid walking home alone, to secure a few extra hours of sleep before 09:00 classes.

The financial strain is not unique to Tianna. Faith Webb, a 20-year-old linguistics student at the University of Manchester, has also found her maintenance loan insufficient to cover rent on a shared flat and has moved back home to commute. Faith estimates her loan this year at £6,600, with rent in Manchester still stretching her finances. She describes seeing many peers in lectures in a work uniform and says, 'I see a lot of people in lectures in a work uniform on my linguistics course.' Faith chose to commute rather than live in halls again, a decision that will involve a daily journey that begins around 06:30 and can total about an hour and a half each way, at a cost she estimates at £2,300 for the year. 'I'm paying so much money to do this,' she says, but prefers focusing on education over a tighter social calendar, aiming to treat university like a nine-to-five job when possible.

Prof Andy Long, the vice chancellor and chief executive of Northumbria University, notes that roughly 38% of his students commute, and stresses that commuting is not a lifestyle choice but an additional burden that the traditional university experience many students once enjoyed does not include. Northumbria has launched freshers events aimed at building a sense of community among commuter students and is exploring whether some contact hours could be condensed to fewer days to ease the double load of classes and part-time work. He adds that students have increasingly benefited from deadline extensions in recent years and that recorded lectures provide a way to catch up when attendance is not feasible. Long argues the Department for Education should reintroduce maintenance grants in England when it publishes its post-16 white paper this autumn, and that living-cost loans should be indexed to inflation and broadened by raising the household income threshold for the maximum loan.

Skills minister Jacqui Smith acknowledged that too many students face real financial hardship and said the government would outline plans to improve access for students from disadvantaged backgrounds in the forthcoming white paper. She stressed the need for timely relief and clearer pathways to support, though exact measures will depend on the policy framework set out in the autumn.

Other students contacted the BBC through Your Voice, Your BBC News to share experiences of the loan shortfall. Josh Anderton, who studies politics and international relations at Lancaster University, says his maintenance loan covers about two-thirds of his rent and that bus fares are rising; he is considering walking two hours each way to cut costs, saying, 'I buy a bus pass, but it’s just getting more and more expensive.' Ava Wylde, 19, travels from Southampton to Durham to study environmental geoscience and works in a corner shop to cover rent; her loan covers just over half of her costs. She also notes the toll on her time and social life, explaining that when finances push her to work more, she has less time for rugby and other activities with friends who do not work during term.

Tianna’s situation has evolved since the start of last term. She had to leave her fast-food job at the end of term because the summer schedule at the restaurant did not allow a pause for holidays. She picked up night club work during the summer in Nottingham but says she will avoid similar hours during the academic year because of early classes. She hopes to find a pub job in Newcastle this year that fits around her timetable and allows her to maintain sleep for 09:00 lectures. 'I’m not doing [night club work] in uni because it’s insane hours,' she says, noting that finishing shifts around 04:00 makes getting to lectures on time particularly challenging. She remains hopeful about saving some money for both living costs and a future house deposit through part-time work alongside her studies.

The surrounding policy debate continues to focus on how to align student funding with rising living costs. Hepi’s analysis, along with the experiences of Tianna, Faith and others, underscores a systemic issue in which the cost of attending university far outpaces current loan support for many students. Education officials have signaled willingness to rethink maintenance support in the forthcoming white paper, while universities are experimenting with scheduling and student services to ease the burden on commuter and part-time students. As the white paper approaches, students and academics alike will be watching for concrete steps to expand affordable living-cost support and to safeguard access to higher education for those from disadvantaged backgrounds.