Students will quit degrees if not offered cost-of-living support, universities warn

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Universities in the UK have warned that student are likely to abandon their courses if they aren't offered any support amid the cost-of-living crisis.

They have said that "immediate action" needs to be taken to help students worried about money.Vice-chancellors are calling on Britain’s next Prime Minister to bring back maintenance grants and provide targeted hardship funding for UK students.

Most of the measures already in place are unlikely to help most students, as they are largely targeted at people on means-tested benefits, pensioners and families, analysis by Universities UK found.Two-thirds (67 per cent) of students in higher education are worried about managing their living costs this autumn, rising to 85 per cent of students over the age of 30, according to a poll carried out by Savanta ComRes.

Of those, more than half (55 per cent) say this may stop them from continuing with their degree, including eight in 10 postgraduate students.The Bank of England has warned the UK will tip into recession this year, with inflation already at a high of 10.1 per cent.