I refused a student maintenance loan – now I can’t afford to go to lectures

Paying £6 return for a bus to get into university might not sound like a huge amount, but for student Eva Morgan it makes a big difference when she is counting every penny. She says she simply cannot justify paying it for one 50-minute lecture and subsequently skips around two a week. Eva, 20, who is about to go into her third year studying psychology at the University of Sussex, didn’t take out a maintenance loan – government-funded borrowing that helps cover your day-to-day living costs while you study – in order to cut the debt she will owe when she finishes studying. But as a result, she is constantly looking for ways to cut her costs. She lives in a shared house in Brighton with six other people and getting to university necessitates a bus commute of around 30 minutes. Shorts “The only way to really get to uni from my location is by bus and it costs £3 for one journey,” she said. “I can drive to university, but then you would have to pay for car parking, so there isn’t really an inexpensive way to get there. “If I have about three lectures in a day, I will pay the bus fares and go. But if I only have one, I really can’t fathom spending £6 to get there and back for just 50 minutes sitting in that lecture room. I would rather watch the recording of the lecture later at home. “If they put lectures and seminars closer together and on the same day, it would be more worthwhile. But I probably miss around two lectures a week if they are singular lectures. “I honestly don’t have enough money to spend on transport to get there for one lecture.” New research reveals that student living costs have increased by 47 per cent in 10 years – far outpacing UK inflation and landing students and recent graduates alike with mountains of debt. The findings, from Starling Bank’s “student-flation” index, also show that the surge in living costs is greater than the 32 per cent rise in the maximum maintenance loan over the same period. Students can currently borrow up to £10,830 for a maintenance loan outside of London – more in the capital – but this is added to their overall borrowing balance alongside their tuition fee loan. Eva has chosen not to take out a maintenance loan to reduce her student debt burden – but this means she has to think carefully about what she spends. “My parents don’t want me to be in more debt than I need to be, so they advised me not to get [a maintenance loan]. “Even with just the tuition fee loans at over £9,000 a year, university is so expensive. “My parents help me by covering my rent. I work to earn money to pay for my other costs as it gets awkward asking for more money.” Eva, who is from south London, worked as a bartender at home and when she went away to university, she initially transferred to a pub in Brighton. However, she said it became too much to balance work with university, so she stopped halfway through her second year. Eva lived on campus for her first year of university, paying £205 a week in rent, and moved into a shared house in her second year “Instead, I now work in a pub as much as I can during university holidays and also pick up shifts in a cafe,” she said. “I am trying to save as much as possible so I won’t have to stress so much about money when I go back to uni later in September.” Eva lived on campus for her first year of university, paying £205 a week in rent, and moved into a shared house in her second year. She pays £172 a week in rent, which includes bills. While she does not regret going to university, Eva does question the value for money. She says: “For me, I could have gone to university in London and lived at home, but I wanted the whole university experience. “I don’t regret going to uni, but my lectures only start in late September, run until May and I have about two months off for Christmas. So I am not actually at uni that much. It does make you question if it is worth it or value for money.”