Student finance may well be the financial backbone of both the educational – and at times, personal – lifestyles of most university students in the UK. However, according to the eligibility restrictions of Student Finance England (SFE), this was not the case for 18-year-old student, Vitoria Mario.
“It seems hypocritical to deny a student with top grades the chance to study at one of the country’s most prestigious Russell Group universities, just because of their one less year of UK residency.”
Moving from Portugal to Tottenham only four years ago made Miss Mario ineligible for SFE maintenance loans; financial help with your living costs is only accessible to those who have lived in the UK for at least five years before the start of their course. However, Miss Mario’s financial struggles were soon alleviated when US pop star sensation, Taylor Swift, donated £23,000 to her GoFundMe, successfully meeting the £40,000 fundraising target.
The singer-songwriter was inspired by Vitoria Mario’s dedication and drive after seeing her achieve A*A*A grades at A-Level and move to England for a better education and the social mobility of her family. Despite Miss Mario’s academic success, SFE’s restrictions prevented her from accepting her offer to study Mathematics at the University of Warwick.
It seems hypocritical to deny a student with top grades the chance to study at one of the country’s most prestigious Russell Group universities, just because of their one less year of UK residency. Only 27.9% of students achieved A*/A grades in their A Levels this year, placing Miss Mario in the top academic minority. This naturally leads us to question just how fair student finance is with its eligibility restrictions – is working hard to achieve your dreams really enough when the government is working against you?
From April to June 2020, it was recorded by the Office for National Statistics that over one million students in the UK are in part-time employment. This means that almost half of the student population – a total of 2.4 million in 2019 – have turned to part-time work to ease the financial pressure of university life. According to an investigation by Save the Student, students on average spend £430 per month on rent, highlighting their everyday financial struggles (especially those without part-time work).
How can students, whose full-time jobs are effectively their education, be expected to pay the same living costs as adults in full-time employment? SFE maintenance loans aim to cover the costs of living – relative to their household income – so that students can concentrate more on their degrees than their bank accounts. But, with students turning their focus from studying to part-time employment involuntarily, the failures of student finance simply not being enough has come to the forefront.
Those studying in London are entitled to up to £12,010 maintenance loan in 2020, whereas students outside of London can receive up to £9,203, depending on their household income. Although SFE have considered the increased expenses of living in London – especially those of students in privately rented accommodation – the fact that students are still having to work to fund their lifestyles, resulting in less focus on their degrees, shows that student finance just isn’t enough.
“Sometimes, the bank of Mum and Dad isn’t so reliable.”
It could also be argued that students outside of London are being sidelined by SFE when they also face similar rent prices to those in London. For example, London based students pay rent prices of up to £200-£215 per week, while students in Bournemouth reportedly pay £189 weekly. This shows that our student finance cannot be considered fully relative, with students outside of London subject to a financial struggle similar to those London-based. Now more than ever, our student finance system is in need of a reality check against our ever-changing society.
When calculating student finance, SFE take into account the student’s household income; it is expected that whatever the government doesn’t provide, a student’s parents should make up. However, should we have to rely on the kindness of others, more often than not the pockets of our parents (or in Miss Mario’s case, Taylor Swift), to make our “dreams come true”? Not all parents can afford to make up the total suggested by SFE due to financial struggles of their own, leaving students out of pocket. Sometimes, the bank of Mum and Dad isn’t so reliable. From this, it seems that household income isn’t the most dependable factor in determining a student’s entitlement.
Student finance need to understand just because my parents total is high doesn’t mean they give me money 😭
— R 🧚🏾 (@RuthLikara) September 1, 2020
Wealthy, Russell Group universities may also offer additional funding, such as bursaries and scholarships. The University of Bristol offers students up to an extra £2,060 as a non-repayable “gift” to its undergraduate students. However, this is also dependent on household income and whether you are a UK “Home” student – similar to SFE maintenance loans. Considering the financial impact of Covid-19 on universities, such as the decreasing number of international students who pay a much higher fee, it is irrational for the universities to gift their students non-repayable funding. Bristol rent prices usually reach within the £500 per month range, and its students receive less maintenance loan purely because they live outside of London. Does the University of Bristol bursary then suggest that student finance alone just isn’t sufficient enough for the city’s student body?
Overall, it seems our system of student finance is outdated and nonsensical. Depriving an A* student of their higher education at a Russell Group university just because they lived one less year in the UK seems almost ironic. Miss Mario, now able to attend university due to Taylor Swift’s donation, will certainly become a valuable asset to our society. But what is there to be said for the many other students whose potential is wasted due to university being unaffordable? Student finance as we know it today is in need of a reality check in order to place both their students and the future of the UK as its main priority.
Flossie Palmer
Featured image courtesy of Ibrahim Rifath of Unsplash. Image license found here. No changes were made to this image.