Seachain an duine a bhíonn ina thost

Something which does affect students as students ...


Students work and borrow to cover university costs
Hilary Osborne
Thursday March 30 2006
The Guardian


The cost of being a student rose by 44% over the six years to 2004/05, as tuition fees, rising living expenses and housing costs took their toll, according to an official study published today.

The Department for Education and Skills (DFES) survey of student expenditure showed students are working longer hours and borrowing more to cover the costs.

And, according to the figures, the total average expenditure among full-time students in England and Wales had risen from £6,161 in the 1998/99 academic year when fees were introduced, to reach £10,273 in 2004/05.

Part-time students - the majority of who were holding down jobs at the same time as studying - spent 40% more, with their expenditure averaging £14,413.

Average students' incomes were lower, at £8,333 for full-time students and £11,196 for part-timers.

Over the six-year period examined in the research, housing costs faced by university and college students rose by 54%, to £2,276 a year, while living expenses - which account for over half of student spending - were up 25%.

The average amount spent on living costs was £5,870 a year for full-time students and £8,972 for part-timers.

As well as the basics like food, clothes and toiletries, living costs cover personal items, such as mobile phones, and holidays, both of which have seen an increase in spending by students.

The costs associated with doing a full-time course added up to an average of £1,980 in 2004/05, of which £1,150 was tuition fees, although one in two students get help with these.

The rest was made up of the cost of course books, computers and other equipment.

But while expenditure on necessities has increased, students seem to have cut back on drinking and socialising. The study showed that over the six years to 2004/05, spending on alcohol and entertainment decreased by 15%, to an average of £1,283.

The research, which was based on the experiences of over 3,000 students, shows that although student incomes rose in line with expenditure they were still, at £8,333, below the average expenditure.

Income is made up from loans, help from family - which for full-time students now accounts for 25% of their earnings, grants and work.

Over half of those in full-time education are now doing part-time work during term time to fund their studies and the average number of hours worked each week has increased from 11 hours in 1998/99 to 13.5 in 2004/05.

With 30% of student income now made up of student loans, and almost four in five students now taking out a loan, it is perhaps surprising that the average debt faced by a graduate last year was down on that faced by someone finishing their studies in 2003.

According to the research, final year students in 2005 owed 14% less than their counterparts two years earlier, with outstanding debts of £7,918.

However, there was a big gap between the debts accumulated by students from wealthy families and those whose parents were on low-incomes. Students from low-income backgrounds finished university with an average debt of £9,842, compared with an average £6,905 among those with better-off parents.

The higher education minister, Bill Rammell, said the survey showed while many students were managing their money carefully at university, poorer students were obviously facing difficulties.

"Those from poorer backgrounds have been left with greater debts than students from wealthier families," he said.

"That's why the new student support arrangements which we are implementing this year will be fairer for all students, and particularly for those from low incomes, as they will have nothing to pay until they have finished their studies and are earning over £15,000. And crucially we're reintroducing non-repayable grants."

However, the NUS's vice president welfare, Veronica King, said the situation was likely to get worse following the introduction of top-up fees this September.

"It is completely unacceptable that 60% of full-time students feel that financial concerns are affecting their academic performance," she said.

"It is also deeply worrying that part-time students - who are even more likely to be working on a regular basis - admit that they miss lectures or have difficulties accessing institution facilities as a result."

Copyright Guardian Newspapers Limited

Home again! And how very lovely it is too. It's funny how different things stand out every time I come home. Sometimes it's huge progress on all the building work going on in my village (I live in a 'village' called Castleconnell eight miles from Limerick city: the population is currently about 1500, but is set to expand to about 3000 over the next few years), sometimes it's the lovely smell of apples in the house.

This time it's all the flowers. There's flowers absolutely everywhere. Rows and rows of daffodils all along the motorways, on roundabouts, in gardens. Daffodils are perennial favourites of County Councils the length and breadth of Ireland, so I suppose I've come home at the right time to appreciate them. But it's not just daffodils: there's hyacinths, tulips, all sorts of things in an array of colours. I can't decide whether they don't have flowers in Wales or if perhaps I just haven't noticed any because I don't spend much time hanging around motorways while I'm there.

I had my interview this morning for a place on the Lyric FM Production Co-ordinator Panel. It was better than I'd expected. Because musical knowledge is so important when working for Lyric, they include quite a lot of general knowledge type questions. It's not all about what experience you have, but also the information you've picked up. I was worried they'd ask me who my top five Irish sopranos were (as they asked Ian yesterday): I'd struggle to think of three good ones! But instead they asked me to say which Great White Hopes in the Irish music scene I'd put money on. It's still a tricky question, and I'm slightly worried that my answers were too obvious (and perhaps not up-and-coming enough), but I did throw in Julie Feeney which seemed to impress them. They all nodded and said 'mm, yes'.

They also asked me quite a lot about what I do for student radio. That was a nice question: I got to talk about the increase in presenter numbers this year, and the importance of paperwork (they had pointed out earlier in the interview that the job involves a lot of administration). They asked me to suggest changes to the Lyric FM timetable (which, thankfully, I'd talked about with Stephen the night before) and what improvements I'd suggest on the breakfast show. I had to waffle for a minute or two before any ideas came to me, but then I suggested there should be more current affairs content so that it wasn't a choice between keeping informed on Radio 1 or listening to music on Lyric FM. Not sure if I really think that's a good idea, but it's certainly a valid suggestion.

The ferry journey was nice yesterday. I slept all the way (as usual). It's such a comfortable place to sleep, gently rocking all the way across the sea. But when I woke up I got the most awful cramp in my leg. It was so sore! I was sitting beside the viewing area, and I woke up just as we were entering Dublin Bay, so loads of people were standing around looking out the window. I must have looked very odd sleepily emerging from under my coat, then grimacing in pain and rubbing my leg.

I had a look at the most gorgeous house yesterday before leaving Bangor. It's just across the road from the Students' Union, right beside the pedestrian crossing. It was renovated last September, and it's absolutely wonderful. I'd love to live there; now all I have to do is persuade the current occupants that they'd like me to live there too. It was a very short visit: I was about to catch a train so I only spent about ten minutes there. It would have been nice to get chatting to them a bit more, convince them that I'm not a psycho (which is how they described most of the other people who'd viewed the house).

The Banglesey (as Sam likes to call it) has been stirring up trouble again. It has decided that the Students' Union is in crisis because four executive members resigned 'in the aftermath' of the closure of the nursery. For goodness sake! There's no crisis. Yes, it's difficult working without a secretary and chairperson, but they didn't resign because of the nursery, and the Executive seems to be working very well together at the moment. It's really sloppy and nasty journalism. Nowhere in the article do they say that the resignations and the nursery closure are directly linked (although Stuart does claim it's why he resigned in a statement, something I don't believe for a minute [although since his resignation letter simply said 'I resign', there's no official explanation for his resignation]. In fact, he admits he voted in favour of the closure, something the Banglesey conveniently glosses over). But mentions of resignations are consistently followed by statements along the lines of 'after the drastic decision to close the nursery' (not an actual quote). They also give much space to the parents who (rudely) continue to claim that the Executive is not capable of making decisions about the nursery's future. They do include a quote from Dizzy pointing out that none of the resignation letters even mention the nursery, but it's at the very end of the article on page three (the 'crisis' part is page one news). It's irritating because there are no actual lies in the article, just very strong inaccurate suggestions.

But yes, I think the most annoying part is the patronising claim by several parents that the Executive is not capable of making decisions. They are particularly hanging on to Llion's claim that the group is not working as a team (something Llion knows all about), as if the problem is specifically with this year's Executive. Well I don't know about the other people on next year's Exec, but I certainly support the closure of the nursery. It's a tough thing to have to do, but there's simply no way the nursery can or should remain open. This childcare fund is a much fairer way to dish out dosh. I spoke to an Irish girl on Normal Site during the campaign who really needed access to childcare money, and for whom a nursery all the way up on St Mary's Site (several miles from Normal Site) was pretty useless.

Anyway, this is getting long, I must stop waffling. Council was fun as usual on Monday (don't listen to Spencer). Seren's editor felt the wrath of Council for making childish (and inaccurate) comments about Council in his editorial. As someone commented, it's all very well going on about editorial freedom and whatnot, but at the end of the day, Seren is a standing committee and as such is accountable to Council. I tried to use Sam's clever idea about procedural motion 42i but it didn't work. We've come up with another couple of ideas to try next time. I really think this notion that we can't amend things during Council is pointless and timewasting. The Schedule should be amended so that amendments can be allowed during Council if the proposer accepts them and if they are approved by a two-thirds majority. That's more than enough safeguards I think. It would speed up the whole process no end.

Oh and we debated a policy motion on abortion. I don't really support the policy motion; I'm not quite sure what it achieves. It states that the Union's stance is pro-choice, but the proposer argued that it meant the Union wasn't taking a stance at all. Pro-choice is very definitely a stance, and one that I fear will alienate people within the Union. I don't think we needed to take a stance at all. The welfare office already provides information on abortion for people who ask, and I don't think this motion has anything to do with 'students as students', the mantra we have to repeat every time we discuss whether the Union should do something. It all started because Spencer mentioned South Dakota illegalising (is that a word?) abortion. Apparently the fear is that this will become standard throughout the USA and spread to the UK. I don't understand that argument at all: is illegalising abortion contagious? If so, why didn't it spread from Ireland long ago? Ireland's much closer, and surely all these pregnant women 'getting the boat' would have carried the strain over here years ago? No, I don't think it's something the Union needs to have a stance on. It's just not necessary.

After Council quite a few of us went t'pub. It was most pleasant, and something which needs to become a regular event. It's nice having a range of people from different societies: rugby, Rostra, Labour, LGBT, UMCB, Welfare and Storm were all represented.

I think I've written enough now. I might go walk the lovely hounds now. They've been so nice to me since I got home, sitting there watching me when I'm in the kitchen and following me around the house. I'll have to take photos of them and post them here.

I realise I should be making more of the elections on this blog since I've just been elected Second-In-Command of The World, but I've spent so much time electioneering and talking to people about elections that I'm just going to direct you to Spencer's blog since he's written about it so nicely.

The elections completely took over my life. When I got home last night Yes Prime Minister was on. They were talking about how to win votes so I had to run away and hide. This morning at the SVB training we were discussing rights and responsibilities on committees. I said that good communication was vital. Sam told me I could stop saying that now because I've been elected. That made me chuckle. I do feel like I've had certain phrases on repeat over the last few weeks. Good communication ... provide a service ... involved in any societies ... everyone should have a say ... have a Haribo ... have you voted yet? And now I can stop.

Except that it hasn't stopped. SVB training this morning was fun. There's a lovely committee there, and I've asked them to consider whether or not they'd like the CSO to be the sabbatical officer with responsibility for SVB (they currently aren't linked to anyone -- the only standing committee without a sabb). If they decide it's a good idea, I might be the Treasurer of SVB next year.

Then I went to Hot Mikado, the SODA production in Theatr Gwynedd. It was lots of fun, all colours and lights and happy sounds. There's some really very talented people in SODA. I went on my own because everyone else was busy, but there were Rostra people there so I had people to talk to during the interval. They're awfully nice. Tonight I'm going to another Rostra production (Rhinocerous), so I'll probably see them all again then. Aside from being a nice way to pass time, it's important to attend these things to support Performing@Bangor's fight to keep JP Hall.

I may be in the computer room now, but don't think for a minute that I'm having a break for SU stuff. I'm here to read all the documents ahead of Monday's Council Meeting. I love Council, I'm looking forward to it. Although Sam won't be there because he's got work, so there'll be less trouble-making. And I have to speak about the Ffridd Redevelopment policy motion because I'm the seconder. Agh!

It probably isn't news to anyone who reads this by now, but I won my election. 787 votes to 340. Apparently it set a new record for the biggest ever margin of victory, a record which was promptly smashed by Gerallt (won with 828 votes to 319). Frodo and Sam also stormed to victory. It's the most fantastic thing: I was supporting all three of the boys and they ALL got in.

The party last night was fantastic. I wasn't much in the mood for partying when we first got there. I was feeling exhausted and nervous, and really just wanted to sit quietly in my own space. Academi's not much good for sitting quietly in your own space. But eventually the results were announced, I was given a bottle of champagne and danced for several hours. It was lovely seeing how happy all my supporters were, too: made me feel less guilty for stealing so much of their time over the past few weeks. I clearly have the most wonderful team of supporters in the world. They canvassed their socks off for me and the boys, and Frodo and Sam have both asked me to pass on their thanks. Next year's Exec is going to be full of wonderful people, it's marvellous.

I'm using a lot of superlatives here. I'll try to stop. The other [superlative removed] news this week is that Storm has been given £10,000 and loaned £8,000 by the university. It's just what we needed to hear this week; finally, we can start working on our new studio. Hopefully Storm will progress in leaps and bounds next year.

I've done so much this week, talked to so many people, done so many things, but all I can think of now is how much I want to go to sleep. Tomorrow morning I'm going to SVB training. It's my first official engagement which is exciting. There's an SU 'away day' next week where the new and old Exec will be having a think-in about what needs to be done. Sadly, it's on Friday, and I have an interview in Limerick on Thursday, so I'll have to chose between a place on Lyric's panel and a day of strategic thinking with the Union. It's a surprisingly tough decision! But for now, sleep.

It's Sunday and it's my mum's birthday. Happy birthday Mum! It's also Storm's birthday, so I've been organising a 24-hour show marathon. Some wonderful people volunteered to do the 12am-6am shift, and another wonderful person did 6am-9am. There's enthusiasm for you.

I think I'm coming down with something (thanks Sam). My chest is feeling tight, I'm coughing a lot and I felt a little achey last night. I'm just going to ignore it, though. I don't have time to be sick. As long as I can stave it off until Friday everything'll be just fine. I might have an interview in Limerick next week, so I just might have to go home early for Easter. I quite like that idea.

The rugby was enjoyable yesterday. I watched it with some staunch English supporters who were very tactful indeed. Thing is, it really could've gone either way, so it's hard to begrudge a win for either side. So we came second overall, but we won the Triple Crown. And that's what matters. I was wearing a nice green hat I earned on Paddy's Day, and the barman told me I was a day late in my celebrations. There were loads of people wearing England hats .. had he not noticed the other team on the pitch?

On Friday I pioneered my favourite canvassing technique so far: the campaign pub crawl. Not only do you have to drink in every pub, you also have to speak to everyone in the pub before you can move on. We only managed three pubs (it's quite time-consuming), but it was a whole lot of fun. People were so very friendly. We went to Normal Site in the morning but we couldn't find anyone. Deserted. Completely deserted. Probably all crammed into Paddy's.

It's Abbey Road this afternoon. I'm feeling a little apprehensive about it .. had a bit of an incident the other day. I'd rather not go today, but there's no-one in the office to phone so I'll truck on. Then Storm interviews again at 3:30. We'll all be crammed into the edit suite because of the marathon broadcast in the studio. Snug.

Apologies for my extended absence. It's been a busy week.

We had hustings this week on Tuesday and Wednesday. The format is a round of speeches from all candidates, then a break followed by a round of questions. The questions are submitted in writing in advance, and chosen by the chair. Tuesday night my speech wasn't much good. The content was fine, but the delivery was weak. I'm normally quite a confident public speaker, but something about that room made me terribly nervous. I spoke too slowly, so I was stopped halfway through my second-last sentence. So close to the finish, but it made the speech sound horribly incomplete.

Never mind, the questions were fine. Apparently there was a bit of a fuss on Wednesday when it was noticed that three of the questions Tery and I were asked on Tuesday had been submitted by Spencer, but it's up to the chair to choose the questions. I hadn't prepared answers, but it all went very well nevertheless. I felt really good after the questions; I think I made up for my poor speech performance.

Wednesday was much better. I cut some of my speech out, and delivered it much more confidently. It helped that I had more supporters in the audience, and that they gave a big cheer when I was called up to speak. The questions weren't as interesting on Wednesday, and I was a bit disappointed that nobody asked about Y Ddraenen (hustings were held in JMJ, the Welsh-language halls, on Wednesday), but I'm still happy with my answers. We have our suspicions that the chair ensured all the questions were from Tery's camp this time round, but it didn't make much of a difference.

I visited Bryn Eithin the other day. That was a whole lot of fun. It's such a friendly place, probably because the halls are small enough to get to know everyone, and I'd imagine people stay in more than in Ffridd because they don't want to tackle The Hill. I've promised to go back and walk up their hill on Wednesday evening when voting opens in St Mary's so that I can fully understand their pain.

Our visit also raised some interesting issues about JCRs. The St. Mary's/Bryn Eithin JCR has had lots of difficulties this year, and I think it'd be worth discussing affiliating JCRs into the Students' Union, perhaps as Standing Committees. They'd have a stronger representative voice, and they'd be accountable to the SU, something which would help prevent the problems St Mary's has had this year.

So, party on Tuesday, and I've just received an email from friends in Dublin saying they're coming over on Monday and staying until Wednesday. How exciting! There'll be more cake, but not cooked by my flatmates this time. We've realised, by the way, that the cake they cooked is in fact a biscuit. It has become softer as time has passed. How very peculiar.

I've locked myself out of my house. I was in the back garden spray-painting, so I pulled the back door closed behind me to stop the fumes getting into the house, but I forgot to put the door on the latch. So here I am in Informatics in my slippers waiting for Rich to collect keys from Chris so that I can get in. Please elect me.

Karaoke was surprisingly fun last night. Chris and I were in good moods, so when we got on stage we danced while singing and generally did a very energetic performance. It's not too bad singing in front of people when you have a backing track. Apparently I sang nicely and Chris mostly sang nicely except for the verse where he thought it modulated (it doesn't) so he was a semitone sharp all the way through.

It was also a good opportunity to talk to other candidates. I made several new friends and sussed out the competition. I should really have had more people in Carolan tshirts there, but Chris and I probably made ourselves quite visible enough. I'm absolutely exhausted this morning. I woke up early and found it hard to get back to sleep. My legs are aching from all the dancing, canvassing and exercising. I'm going up to St Mary's/Bryn Eithin in a few minutes to do more campaigning. I'll have to see if I can persuade Rich to drive me.

I'm having the bestest birthday ever. All sorts of marvellous things. I got home from campaigning this evening to find the house bedecked with snake-shaped balloons. I sat down on the couch and my flatmates brought in about 10 presents, all carefully wrapped in newspaper, and a ridiculously chocolatey cake. It was the most wonderful thing! My presents included bubbles, a fantastic yellow baby mug (one with a lid and two handles) and a gnome. Sadly, the gnome was savagely murdered by the cake, which was dropped on it from a height. Bizarrely, the cake emerged entirely unscathed while the pottery gnome was shattered into small pieces. Anyway, the cake was so full of sugar and chocolate and whatnot that we all had massive sugar highs. Hilarity ensued.

Probably my favourite present of the day was a gold bracelet from my gran. I'm really really rather chuffed with it: she was given it by my grandad when she turned 21. Grandad is my only grandparent who isn't alive, so it's really rather special getting that kind of present. Also, the only other gold bracelet I have was given to me by him when I was born. Obviously it's a little small for me now, so getting a new one is fantastic. It really made my day actually. I cried when I opened it, but it was a nice kind of crying.

Continued campaigning today. Met lots of lovely people. Karaoke to go to this evening. I normally get really wound up about these things but I'm going to be brave and prove that I can conquer my fears for the sake of student politics :) And I've got my purdy dress to make me feel happy. I think I'm going to go to Chester on a shopping spree when these elections are finished. Clothes. Lots of clothes. Maybe some more sparkly shoes too.

So, big shout out to everyone who's made this day absolutely fantastic so far. It's been just about non-stop fun. Now to eat something which is not entirely sugar-based ..

My flatmates are being rather sweet and cooking me something (presumable a cake), but they've banned me from entering the kitchen even though it's food time and I'm STARVING, and they seem to be having a marvellous time and I'm not allowed to join in! I'm jealous.

So yes, I'll be 21 tomorrow. It's quite exciting really. I'm going to have a GREAT birthday. I'm going to go campaigning left right and centre, and my birthday's going to last for over a week because my party isn't until the 21st, and people are coming all the way over from Ireland to see me.

We recorded a sort of question time thingy on Storm earlier. It went pretty well overall; I was pleased because I managed to speak fluently and (hopefully) intelligently despite having a shocking hangover. I was stocious drunk last night. Went to Yellow Pub to chat to the Frisbee team -- lovely boys and girls. Then I went to a house party at Tanya's. It was absolutely packed. I met my twin: another girl whose 21st is tomorrow. We were both quite drunk so found that more amazing than we probably should have. And I climbed up an extremely precarious ladder. Not sure why.

So electioneering seems to be going well so far. People are being very supportive. I'm roping people into committing themselves to campaigning on certain days, and I've been busy as a bee making tshirts for everyone. I've postered Main Arts, the Music Dept, the Media Centre and most of the Ffridd site. I think it'll be Ffridd tomorrow, after I've been to the gym to collect my birthday present :)

I'm going to bully those boys into getting out of the kitchen. I find hangovers so much worse if you don't eat. I'm so hungry. I think I'll have a pizza.

I'm sitting in the SU Media Room (again!) and the whole building is vibrating. It's really weird, I don't know what's going on. It might just be the music in Academi, but it's only twenty past five, why would there be really loud music?

So the campaign is now officially open. I've got my posters (some of which are lilac, an interesting shade of yellow). I'm going to go put some of them up this evening cos I want a good spot in Main Arts, but I'll probably put the rest up tomorrow morning. I've got black paint all over my hands because I've been making tshirts this morning. I need some magical paint remover.

I'm feeling stressed. So much to do. I'm also enjoying myself, though. I've resigned myself to the fact that I'm not going to get much work done over the next week or two, so I'm going to socialise like I've never socialised before. It's important to get out there and meet people. And I'm recruiting specific people to work on specific days so I'm not going to be lost and lonely any days.

I'm feeling so jittery. I can't sit here and concentrate on writing things. But I'm waiting for a translation from Gareth (he's far too good to me) of an email to Clubs and Socs before I can go stick up any posters. So many things to think of so much of the time.