Re Chelsie Henshaw’s article (The cost of living crisis will force students to choose between studying and eating, 14 October), I graduated earlier this year with a first, and was all set to go on to my master’s course this autumn. I’ve now had to defer for a year because I just can’t make the numbers add up, even with a part-time job. I’m a mature student, so there is no “bank of mum and dad”, and, as a working-class student, there are precious little savings for me to fall back on. Even the full master’s loan, and a discount on tuition fees from my university for getting a first, leaves the pot virtually empty after the basics of just rent and utilities – I’d have less than £100 a month left over for food, and absolutely nothing for anything else.
It would take just one catastrophe to send me over the financial edge. So my educational journey has effectively stalled, as have my career plans. I’m really hoping I’ll be able to restart my master’s next year, but if the crisis continues or deepens, then I can kiss goodbye to my postgrad dreams for at least a few years. How many other working-class students are in this position, either having to drop out or not even start their degrees because of financial constraints? It makes me angry and sad and hopeless that, even in education, which is supposed to be the greatest of all levellers, the rich get almost all the pie and the poor are left with crumbs.
Josephine Makepeace
Norwich
• Chelsie Henshaw is right. Student financing needs a review and reform to enable all students, especially those from poor backgrounds, to get adequate funding to allow a work/study/fun balance at university. I enjoyed free university education, with access to student loans and working through the holidays allowing me to pay bills and enjoy student life in the 90s.
It is significantly harder for students today, with additional costs as a result of Brexit that do not get reported. My daughter took up a study place in Belgium this September, a great opportunity to expand her knowledge and life experience. Her visa costs alone exceeded £700. Pre-Brexit, no such costs existed, due to free movement. Visa costs present a huge barrier to equal opportunities: students from financially struggling backgrounds must feel cheated and stressed by the situation.
Johnson told us that post-Brexit, out of the excellent Erasmus scheme (which we did not need to leave), the Turing scheme replacement would be much better. It isn’t. My daughter received no Turing funding at all. When her university applied to government for funds, it received a fraction of what was needed. Monies received rightly went to the poorest students. The question therefore is how many young adults who will have worked hard to fund the other costs such as visas and travel were ultimately left high and dry when no Turing funds came their way?
Politicians constantly yak about a high-skill workforce and economy, without, it seems to me, joining the dots. Funding and investing in education, and ensuring equal access, is the backbone on which that workforce is grown.
Marion Durose
Ketton, Rutland
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