Students Being 'Set Up to Fail' Over Costly Accommodation

A leading finances charity has claimed that university students are being "set up to fail" because of the pricey cost of accommodation.

The Money Charity has said that in parts of the UK, university attendees are being left with as little as £40 a week after they have paid for their lodging with their maintenance loan.

On top of the support that students already receive, the report claims that they need to find an additional £750 a month to live on, and the lowest income students outside of London need an extra £346.

In London alone, 42% of universities offer no accommodation that takes up less than half of the maximum student support.

After surveying students at over 150 universities across the country, the charity says that people at the education establishments are being put under extreme financial pressure as a result.

It has asked the government to intervene and create an independent body that will ensure that the money that they receive is enough for them to live on. It would also like universities to be clearer on the cost of accommodation.

"For almost all of the 360,000 new full-time undergraduate students each year, their first instalment of maintenance loan and grant will represent the single largest sum of money they have ever been responsible for," said Michelle Highman, chief executive of the Money Charity.

"This places a huge amount of pressure on students to use that money sensibly. But if most of that money is gone on accommodation costs immediately after entering their account, they are being set up to fail.

"We can't expect students to become responsible savers, credit users and planners, if staying out of the red during university is impossible."