Freedom of Information requests, sent to 27 UK Universities, have revealed that student hardship fund applications have not yet returned to their pre-pandemic levels.
The research, conducted by Generation Rent, found that hardship fund applications are still 82% higher in 2022/23 than pre-Covid levels for UK students.
Data collected through Freedom of Information requests found that there were 38,484 total applications to hardship funds responded in the year 2022/23, compared to 28,517 applications in 2019/20 – 82% higher than pre-Covid levels.
Minority ethnic students struggling the most
According to data from six universities that provided ethnicity breakdowns, 4.0% of Black, Asian and Mixed-race students applied to the hardship fund between 2019/20 and 2022/23, more than twice the rate for white students (1.8%).
In four years (19/20 to 22/23) – Black, Asian and Mixed-race students made up 45% of hardship fund applications, despite only making up 27% of all students at the six Universities analysed (according to HESA). White students meanwhile make up 69% of all students according to the same data.
There were a total of 6,486 applications from Black, Asian and Mixed-race students, compared to 7,258 from white students.
These findings come after Generation Rent recently published research in August 2024 which found that UK universities are offering only about half the quantity of affordable on-campus accommodation needed for students.
It is extremely concerning to see that students are still struggling to make ends meet four years after the height of the pandemic – and it is Black, Asian and Mixed-race students who are struggling the most.
What needs to happen?
Students are facing high accommodation costs and an ongoing cost-of-living crisis – yet they do not have access to benefits, especially Universal Credit, which others are able to rely on.
Students must not be excluded from funding and support – and Black, Asian and Mixed-race students, who are experiencing the worst of these issues, cannot be abandoned, especially just when they are starting out their lives as independent adults.
Are you a student renter who is struggling? Tell us your story here.
Notes
The full research can be found here.
The 27 Universities analysed were: Coventry University, King’s College London, University of Birmingham, University College London, Edinburgh University, University of Manchester, Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham University, University of Glasgow, University of Warwick, University of Cardiff, Manchester Metropolitan University, Sheffield Hallam University, University of Leeds, University of Liverpool, University of Bristol, Anglia Ruskin University, Birmingham City University, University of Greenwich, University of Portsmouth, Liverpool John Moores University, Oxford University, University of the West of England, University of Exeter, De Montford University, Ulster University and the University of Sheffield.
The six Universities that provided ethnicity breakdowns of hardship applications were: Anglia Ruskin University, Birmingham City University, Nottingham University, Sheffield Hallam University, University of Bristol, Oxford University.
