JUGGLING UNI AND WORKING LIFE - HOW MUCH LONGER CAN THIS GO ON?

For many students, a part time job is a necessity during their studies. Less-than-adequate student loans and grants, which for many fail to even cover their rent, have led to a significant proportion of students needing part time jobs to see them through university.

But for how much longer can this be sustained? Degree courses require both attendance at lectures and seminars, but also a high

level of study outside the classroom. With increasing pressures on graduate jobs meaning top degrees are more important than ever, just how sustainable is it to expect students to work to pay their way through Uni?

Maintenance loans and grants are available, but depend on a number of factors including the type of university you attend, your household income and what year you’re in.

One student who knows all too well the pressures of juggling work with university is 21 year old Chelsea Dearing. She’s had to work all through her time at Uni, and says the increasing pressures on her time are becoming harder and harder to manage.

“It feels like I hardly get any time for myself, I’m either doing Uni work or I’ve got to go to work.”

Chelsea currently juggles her final year of a Media degree with working in a pub. Unpredictable hours and an antisocial shift patterns add to the pressure on her time, and she says she has really struggled this year to fit everything in.

“It’s really hard to make everything slot into place. You’ve got your degree on one hand which is important and you want to do well in and your job on the other which you need to be able to do the degree in the first place. If I didn’t have a job I wouldn’t be able to afford to come to Uni, but now I’m here it’s a constant struggle to get to Uni and work and when there’s a clash it can put me in an awkward situation.”

Chelsea feels that more support could come from government and Student Finance England to help students fund their time through university, and also that university’s themselves could bring in some more controls.

“I think it’s daft that you get a maintenance loan that only just covers your accommodation each term. Why are university accommodation providers allowed to charge what they like when they know how much students get off government? It means that once you’ve paid your rent you’ve got next to nothing to live off unless your parents can afford to give you money or you get a job. They moan about attendance at Uni then put you in a position where you’ve no choice but to go to work.”

“I think it’s unfair because it means the students whose parents can afford to pay them through Uni are going to do better because they’ve got more time to study, and it means people from poorer families are going to do worse because they can’t commit as many hours to their degrees because they have to work.”