With the UK government planning to cut tertiary education spending by approximately £4 billion by 2014 is this going to create a struggling financial environment for students with already low incomes?
The chart above shows the percentage of undergraduates grants/loans that is spent on alcohol and nights out. 36% spent around 25% of their grants going out rather than spending it aiding their course and future careers. So is this budget cut really that bad? 45% of students asked had financial support from their parents while 27% had part time jobs during term time.
The lack of care in spending is mainly due to students unable to spread their finances over the course of the term and not caring about their long term financial situation. One way to fix this would be for Student Finance England to supply university students with a weekly allowance similar to that of the EMA (education maintenance allowance) used for college students and 64% of students asked agreed with this.
Although 82% of people are happy with the support they have received during their time at university is this cut going to change their attitude and work ethics or will this financial restriction see more and more people opting for full time work over a better educaction.
