Cost of living crisis: impact on university students

The cost of living crisis continues to pose significant challenges for communities across the UK, including students. Universities are stepping up to provide extra support for students struggling with hardship by:

boosting their emergency financial assistance funds
providing food vouchers, access to food banks and affordable eating schemes
absorbing some of the increases in rental costs
providing free transportation between campuses

How is the cost of living crisis affecting students?

Polling by Savanta ComRes for Universities UK (UUK) showed growing anxiety for students in the cost-of-living crisis:

On mental health: 72% agreed that money worries were having more of a negative impact on their mental health now than at the start of the academic year.
On how students manage their finances: 67% were concerned about managing their living costs this autumn.
On continuation of study: 55% of those who felt concerned about managing their living costs were also worried that this might prevent them from continuing their studies.

The impact of increases in the cost of living will affect some groups of students more severely than others. Our research shows:

Disadvantaged students are much less likely to feel confident about managing their finances over the next 12 months – 68% of those from the most disadvantaged groups feel confident compared to 77% for more advantaged groups.
International students are not eligible to access government benefits and are limited to working a maximum of 20 hours per week. Some are unaware they are eligible for university sources of funds, and food banks are seeing increased demand from international students.

Our recommendations

As cost of living pressures intensify, it will become increasingly apparent where some groups of students are missing out on support and where there is a need for extra support.

Universities would like to do more to help, but the tuition fee freeze in England means that they are already operating with a severely stretched funding base. Government and universities will therefore need to work together to assess how increased support is given to those who are most in need through:

Targeted government hardship funding for UK students.
The reinstatement of maintenance grants for those most in need.
Action to ensure that support for students is protected against inflation.
Increased financial support for postgraduate researchers.
Ensuring that any government action to support people with rising costs, such as energy, can be accessed by students across the UK, including those in halls.

How are we responding to the crisis?

In response to the crisis we convened a Cost of Living Advisory Group in 2022, this was formed to understand the scale of the crisis and its impact on our members, their students and their staff. The group is informed by shared practice, taking inspiration from member institutions and has been working to identify the key challenges and offer recommendations on how these might be addressed. The group is led by Professor Karen Cox, Vice Chancellor and President of the University of Kent.

How are universities responding to the crisis?

Universities are responding to the cost of living crisis in a variety of ways including:

Engaging and understanding the issue: universities are in regular discussions with student unions and student representatives to better understand and monitor the extent of the problem.
Increasing their hardship support funds: universities are improving access to emergency loan support and revisiting measures to alleviate digital poverty.
Providing targeted support: universities are supporting students through food vouchers, food bank access, and affordable eating schemes.

Below are some specific examples of how universities are responding to the crisis:

Case studies

Leeds Beckett University

Leeds Beckett University have put a variety of measures in place to help students that are struggling, including:

Absorbing 80% of the increase in rental costs for students living in halls of residence.
Providing a hot meal every lunchtime for £2.
Providing free transport between campuses.
Doubling the allocation of hardship funds from £1.5 million to £3 million

Sheffield Hallam University

Sheffield Hallam is also focussing their efforts on providing a more pragmatic approach to supporting students. The university is offering tangibles like free access to the top 100 e-books to enable students to save on textbook expenses and introducing daily deals in their canteen where the cost of food and drink will be £1 for any item all day. The university have also offered to cover costs of graduation gowns for the most hard-hit students and will be doubling the International Emergency Fund to support international students.

Swansea University

Swansea University has increased the amount of funding available and reassessed their assessment criteria for hardship funds for 2022–23. The student union has been working with local government and Plaid Cymru to lobby for policy change to support students in rental properties. They are also hosting a series of free breakfasts on the university’s campuses.

University of Aberdeen

The University of Aberdeen has hosted various pop-up events to raise awareness of budgeting, money management, and distributed hundreds of 'dinner on us' kits while reinforcing positive behaviours on living independently and managing budgets. The university also offer free breakfast options every Tuesday and Thursday and have extended opening hours of campus locations to ensure students have access to warm spaces during the winter.

University of Cumbria

The University of Cumbria offers ‘Keep Me Going’ vouchers to students who are struggling to afford food shopping.

University of Essex

The University of Essex, through the help of their student union, is a great example of an institution working to reduce the impact of the crisis on not just their students but also low wage staff. The university recently introduced all day meal deals where students and staff alike can enjoy a hot meal any day of the week for just £2.

Other initiatives include the trebling of the student hardship fund which as a response to the crisis went from £489,000 to £1.5 million. Like other institutions the university has also put a freeze on things such as accommodation costs and through their collaboration with the student union reduced the price of essential groceries, counteracting rising supermarket costs.

The university is also providing free food through their latest weekly initiative called ‘Warm Welcome’. The event enables students to come together in different warm spaces to share their experiences and tips to one another and reduce feelings of isolation as well as cut their energy bills.

University of Manchester

The University of Manchester ensures that the Living Cost Support Fund is never empty and has taken to topping it up when necessary.

University of York

The University of York is working in partnership with the Students’ Union to actively find, create and promote more job opportunities on campus and off campus for York students this year.