More students take on work to avoid debt

Top-up fees, personal debt and high rental prices have led to a 53 per cent increase in the amount of students working while studying over the past decade, the TUC has said.

“More and more students are being forced to look for paid work not only because they need the cash to survive each term at university, but also because they want to avoid running up massive debts by the time they graduate,” said TUC general secretary Brendan Barber.

The findings come as students start heading off again to university, with freshers facing top-up fees nearly three times greater than tuition fees paid by their predecessors.

With 630,718 students working to pay off debt, 40 per cent of students think working affects their degree, which could hurt their future employment and financial prospects.