If students are normally known for one thing – it’s being skint. However, the current cost-of-living crisis appears to be taking young people to new depths of frugality. Referring to the current generation of 16–25-year-olds as the ‘Class of Covid’, Jonathon Townsend, the UK Chief Executive of the Prince’s Trust charity, has claimed: “Young people in the UK today are facing a unique set of challenges, in the aftermath of a pandemic and with a cost-of-living crisis looming.” Frankly, he’s not wrong. From two years ago when students faced the threat of a £300 fine for stepping foot inside another student flat during freshers, to now, where a full fridge and a few nights a week out costs just as much – university life has hardly been the carefree heaven students were promised in recent times.
A recent survey conducted by the Trust involving 2,000 students has shined a light on just how dire the living situation has become for some students lately. It found that 40% of 16-25-year-olds intended to leave higher education early in order to start earning more quickly. Shockingly, 14% of those surveyed said they had used a food bank at least once over the last year. To understand the personal cost of the crisis, I spoke to two final-year undergraduates at the University of Warwick, who have studied there through two lockdowns and the current crisis.
“The crisis has created a vicious cycle,” said Raul-Rafael Nemeş, who studies Life Sciences with Global Sustainable Development, and works part-time in hospitality.
'There simply aren't any extra hours to ask for.'
“There are very few customers due to the cost-of-living crisis, which affects both my job security and hours. I used to do 20 hours a week, now it’s barely 10. They’re the worst shifts as well. I used to work 8-hour shifts with breaks, now it’s fragmented into 5-hour shifts with no breaks, which are often to clean up and close the kitchen. There simply aren’t any extra hours to ask for.
“People don’t have enough shifts to have a disposable income, so they can’t go out and be a customer in hospitality, especially while everything is so expensive. Companies can’t afford to give more hours and create customers for their own industry. So, the downward spiral continues.”
The survey found 51% of students were concerned about their job security. However, even with work, 35% said their salary no longer covered their rent or mortgage. This has certainly been the case for Nemeş:
“I don’t get a maintenance loan, so I live week-to-week from my job. For a long time, I was able to live independently from my parents, for whom I do my degree and my job to support. This makes it even harder to ask them for financial help – I’ve been reluctant to do so several times. It wasn’t nice, and now I’m in debt with them. I basically went from being self-sufficient to having to go to my parents and say: ‘please help me otherwise I’m gonna be homeless.’”
Beyond being able to afford the rent, the Trust found 46% of students were worried about having enough money for essentials such as food, clothes, and toiletries. It found that 25% skipped meals to save cash and a third felt they could not afford to put the heating on or travel to work/ university.
I asked Nemeş if he found any of these statistics surprising. He replied: “No. Everything’s so expensive - I’m always scared of the next bill. Small things like the bus pass going up by £5 add up to make life extra hard. In August and September, I found myself getting up later to eat brunch and dinner, which made it easier to only eat two meals a day for financial reasons.
“My friends and I have had to financially help each other. We have rules in our house to keep the bills down: Don’t use the tumble drier, limit showers to 5-10 minutes each and wear as many layers as possible instead of using the heating.”
'The crisis is always at the forefront of your mind.'
Almost half of the students surveyed expressed concern about being able to afford food this winter. Audrey Fidegnon, a History student, commented: “The crisis is always at the forefront of your mind. It’s particularly hard on students who are away from home for the first time and are used to having constant support from their parents. My maintenance loan won’t even cover my rent - I’m very lucky my parents can make up the rest. And I’m very aware so many won’t have that luxury.”
60% of students said they were uncertain of their future as a result of the crisis. The crashing pound twinned to an increasing loss of trust in Truss’ ability to pay back the vast government debt is unlikely to have settled these nerves.
Fidegnon believes this is being reflected in the increasingly corporate career aspirations of her peers: “I hear people joking all the time about ‘selling their soul’. People seem increasingly concerned with jobs that guarantee money to buy the necessities and secure a place on the increasingly inaccessible property ladder, rather than following careers which match their personal interests and aspirations.
“Experts forecasted this crisis, and sadly we have a government which decided not to mitigate the outcome. They really lack empathy on a range of things, but particularly on people fending for themselves. I feel like the Labour Party is the only party that can realistically be voted in to change the current situation.”
It seems students are doing a fair bit more cost-cutting than just switching beers from BrewDog to Ruddles at Wetherspoons. It seems that nationwide, no one bar the ultra-rich is immune from the current cost-of-living crisis, and students appear to be no exception. Submerged by the debts which are currently contingent to higher education, and barely able to find work in shrinking industries like hospitality, they are having to face particularly tight cutbacks and put pressure on struggling parents to bail them out - many of whom do not have the financial means to do so.