Recent studies shows that teenager students belong to poor families can now only afford to go to a nearby university and stay at home.

More than half (53%) of students from families who work in manual jobs or are on benefits chose their university because it was close to home, a poll by the National Union of Students and HSBC has found.

The figure was 22% for students from the richest homes where parents are company directors or in professional jobs.

The study quizzed 3,135 undergraduates at 146 universities and colleges across the UK.

The finding acts as an early warning to ministers that the poorest students could suffer if tuition fees rise. Ministers are reviewing the first three years of the fees next year. Critics worry that this will lead to an increase in the current £3,145 cap on what universities can charge each year.

Wes Streeting, president of the National Union of Students, said: “Fees and spiraling living costs are forcing those from poorer backgrounds to choose a university close to home. This has to be taken into account in the forthcoming review of higher education funding. We cannot allow fees to continue to exacerbate this problem.”

Dr Stuart Downward, an admissions tutor at Kingston University who has lectured for 14 years, said: “In the past, we had a much bigger catchment of students. Now there are more students coming from our local area.” He said that for some students living at home, university felt “almost like a job”.

Students told the pollsters they expected university life to cost £450 less each year. Some 42% thought they would be entitled to a bursary when only 28% were eligible.

Almost half of those with part-time jobs during term-time said that without this supplementary income, their basic living costs would have exceeded their loans. Some 45% said their part-time work distracted them from their studies.

Those that had part-time jobs worked on average 14 hours a week during term-time.

Students said they received on average 15 hours a week of “contact time” with tutors and studied alone for 16 hours a week. Students at high-ranking universities had fewer contact hours.

A quarter of the students said they had to wait more than five weeks for feedback on coursework.

But 85% were happy they had decided to go to university, and the same percentage said the quality of teaching and learning was either good or excellent.

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The number of foreign students applying to British universities could enjoy a boost because of the pound’s plunge, giving UK institutions an advantage over US competitors in their battle for international prestige.

Research from iGraduate, a higher education research group, shows the cost of studying in the UK has fallen sharply for many foreign students, particularly Asians. Britain has become 46 per cent cheaper for Chinese applicants over the past year, and 29 per cent cheaper for Malaysians. The cost for Indian applicants has dropped 10 per cent.


Sir Howard Davies, director of the London School of Economics, which takes a majority of students from abroad, said: “The currency really does help us. When we were at two bucks to the pound, the total cost of coming to the LSE and living in London was really bumping up against the price of Columbia and Princeton, places that we see as our direct competitors.”

The University of Nottingham’s International Office said the weaker pound gave it an advantage over universities in the US, Singapore and Japan, but currency fluctuations meant British institutions faced strong competition for Asian students from Australia. Early figures from Ucas, the central applications body for UK universities, show the number of non-British applicants for 2009 entry has risen 11.1 per cent year-on-year. The figures comprise students who have applied for medicine, dentistry, veterinary sciences and Oxbridge entry. There was a 24.4 per cent increase in early applicants from Singapore, up from 772 last year to 961. The number from mainland China was up 3.2 per cent, with a 7.7 per cent rise for India.

A spokesman for Manchester university said applications from overseas students had risen from last year.

Dr Stéphan Vincent-Lancrin, a senior education analyst at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, said: “A weak pound will make the UK higher education more competitive against other Anglophone systems.”

He added: “Cost to the students is only one factor among many. In the case of Asian students, we know that the country’s reputation in higher education is the first determinant in their choice. Perceived overall quality is important, and with flattering ranks in international rankings the UK has probably strengthened its external reputation.”

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Undergraduate students will be spared a rise in tuition fees for at least five years, in a move that will relieve middle-class families.

Ministers are under pressure from universities to raise the inflation-linked cap on university tuition fees, currently at £3,145, when the system is reviewed next year. Vice-chancellors claim that they need the extra income to compete with leading universities around the world.

David Eastwood, chief executive of the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE), urged universities to dampen their expectations. Speaking at the council’s annual general meeting in London, he said: “Institutions would be foolish to plan on the assumption that there will be an early rise in the fee cap. I think it’s inconceivable that the cap will rise significantly before 2013.”

The National Union of Students estimates that those graduating under the new fee regime will owe an average of £20,000 once they complete their studies.

However, a survey for NatWest bank has calculated that the actual cost of completing a degree is much higher, at about £33,500. This includes fees, rent, food and luxuries such as alcohol and cigarettes.

Students from families whose parents earn just over the upper limit of £60,000 for receiving financial aid may find themselves hit hardest by any increase in fees, because they do not qualify for the assistance that is available to those from low-income households.

Eric Thomas, Vice-Chancellor of Bristol University, said that it would be unrealistic for universities to expect an increase in fee or other income in the current economic climate. “We must expect our income to flatten. In the past 12 years, income has risen by 10 per cent a year annually. Now we will have a situation where it will flatten, but we will still have the same cost base,” he said.

On other hand Jane from Cambridge commented as “I think its a disgrace the fees exist in the first place; particularly given that the people who brought this in, had a free university education!”

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1. Organise club nights

With many students out on the tiles two or three times a week there’s money to be made in entertaining them. Birmingham University graduate Gary Linton set up his own promotions company with a couple of friends in the holidays before his final year. “We established a brand, set up a website, scouted out suitable venues, designed flyers and hired bands.” As the money began to pour in – at its peak, the company was pulling in profits of between £800 and £1000 each week – they were able to employ a team to hand out flyers and a manager to oversee them. “It was a fantastic experience and I learned a lot about running a business. But it did require a good deal of work”.


2. eBay

Trading in that nasty jumper your grandmother bought you for Christmas or the TV set that’s been collecting dust in the attic for years can help boost the coffers. “Pretty much anything will sell”, says Aaron Selman, a student at Newcastle University. “But it is time-consuming listing each item individually”. A more cost-effective method, Aaron explains, is to buy in bulk (in his case, clothes shipped over from the US and scooters bought off a friend’s dad) and sell them on at a mark-up. “All you have to do is field queries from your customers and go to the post office to send the items off. If you put the effort in, I’d say it’s possible to make up to £15,000 a year”.

3. Online poker (undertaken at your own risk)

For some, the possibility – however remote – of wiping out thousands of pounds of debt in one bleary-eyed evening of glory is too much to resist. Of course, if you’re skilled and extremely lucky, it can happen. One especially gold-fingered student player was able to buy himself an Audi TT on the back of his poker earnings. The flipside can be grim, however. One former undergrad at Manchester University, who preferred to remain anonymous, blew his student loan cheque in a single day.

4. Surveys

Granted it’s not quite as glamorous or potentially money-spinning, but filling out online surveys provides a risk-free way of topping up your bank balance. Work is easy to come by, too, with thousands of research groups offering work when and however much you want it. Adam Levine, a student at Bristol University, makes between 50p and £2 for each survey he completes for market research firm YouGov. “It’s a good idea to set up a separate email account just for the surveys. Mine has been clogged up a lot – my personal details have been passed around quite a bit.”

5. Tutoring/coaching

Teaching the subject you love to one or two students is rewarding work. And in more than one sense: even an inexperienced tutor can charge around £20 an hour. Securing clients isn’t always easy, however. You’ll need to post adverts in newsagents’ windows, library notice-boards and Internet sites (www.anysubject.com is recommended). Once you have a student or two, make sure you impress; further work often stems from recommendations to family and friends. There’s money to be made away from academic subjects, too. Birmingham University student David Goldschmidt receives £11 an hour for coaching Eton fives at a local independent school. “It pays well and I love doing it.”

6. Postgraduate research projects

Faculty notice boards, email inboxes, sometimes toilet cubicles, are dotted with cash offers from PhD students in exchange for a bit of help with their doctoral theses. Jonathan Keane became a handy ally to the postgraduate community during his degree at Cambridge University. “It seemed like an easy source of revenue. The questionnaires generally took about an hour to complete and we were paid around £10. I quite enjoyed it, too, even if I didn’t always really understand what the projects were about.”

7. Clinical tests and sperm donations

Helping test new medicines has long been an attractive option for students. It’s easy to see why. Sit back, take a few drugs and collect a cool £100 for a hard day’s work (which is what companies like trials4us.co.uk offer). Unfortunately, it’s not always quite as simple as that. Two years ago, six British men suffered serious organ failure after testing a drug designed to treat conditions like rheumatoid arthritis, leukaemia and multiple sclerosis. Donating sperm, meanwhile, does not carry the same risks. One student at Birmingham University described how he was given a condom and a top-shelf magazine before being sent into a cubicle. “A few minutes later I was given £40.”

8. Mystery shopping

The job title might sound alluring; the description is rather less so. Mystery shopping involves being paid by agencies like Mystery Shopper or Retail Maxim to buy a sandwich in Pret a Manger or a dress in Top Shop, and report back with comments on the retailer’s customer service. For Katherine Faulkner, it provided a regular stream of income during her time at Cambridge University. “It wasn’t exactly the stuff of dreams but I wasn’t tied down to specific hours and I was paid £10 for each restaurant, shop etc.” The job also provided the odd moment of comedy. “On one occasion I was given a brief to go into a Wetherspoon’s pub by myself and order a mojito and a pint of real ale. I think they might have rumbled me.”

9. Brand promotions

Young and attractive students – especially girls – are always wanted to help showcase the latest games console, promote an upcoming gig or hand out a new chocolate bar on the streets. Companies like The Lounge Group offer you £10 an hour to do so and find you work in your local area. York University student Lucy Blake has helped promote brands including T-Mobile, The Times Career Supplement and McArthur Glen. “One job involved standing outside the T-Mobile shop in Sheffield wearing a pink sequinned leotard, fishnet tights, silver sparkly shoes, a Top Hat and a feather boa to promote a new tariff. Posing semi-nude on the streets of Sheffield created a little stir.”

10. Bar work

Clearly there are plenty of ways these days to generate a bit of cash without putting in too much hard graft. But there is still a lot to be said for pursuing more traditional sources of income. William Dam Villena worked for the student union bar during his time at Exeter University, putting in about 12 hours a week and taking home roughly £70. It provided a lot more than just money, though. “I had really flexible hours and it was a great way to meet people.”

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