Debt, Hardship and Stress

As thousands of students return to university and college and many others arrive for the first time, most have something in common, another year of debt to look forward to.

Leah Ganley, Dundee University

The SNP government might claim to “have restored the principal of free education” in Scotland by crapping the Graduate Endownment, but this falls far short of their 2007 election promise.

They hope their pledge to “abolish the graduate endowment… and replace student loans with  grants” has been forgotten, but it hasn’t! Scottish students still do not have “free education”. True, they do not face tuition fees as in other parts of the UK, but they still have to get into an average of £13,000 of debt over the course of their degree to pay for their living costs. This can hardly be escribed as “free”.

In a recent National Union of Students Scotland survey, it was revealed that more than half of Scotland’s students are in debt to commercial lenders, such as banks and credit card companies, as well as student loans. It also showed that 70% of students are doing more than the recommended
10 hours a week work to subsidise their living costs.

2008-09 had the highest numbers of Scottish students applying for hardship funding. A total number of 14,386 students applied, which is up over 1000 on the previous high figure in 2007-08. Students are too often jeopardising their studies because they have to work long hours to pay their bills. The only other option is to borrow more money and get into even greater debt.

Student debt is only likely to increase during this unemployment crisis as many will be unable to find part jobs and will have to rely on borrowing.