Mothers make plan to help student debt

Kate Barnham has set up a website to allow students to live rent-free in another family’s home while their child is at university.

Explaining the move, Mrs Barnham told the Argus: “I was worried about Tom’s student debt, especially with top-up fees being introduced.”

With top-up fees coming in this year, an additional financial burden which will further push students into debt, Mrs Barnham said that swaps made sense as it allowed people to still go to another university without worrying about rent debt.

Rather than making them stay at home because of large bills, Mrs Barnham said that swapping students will also allow a broadening of horizons.

“Students are leaving university anything up to £20,000 in debt. It’s a huge burden so we are confident there will be lots of people who want to save money,” added Mrs Barnham.