Friday 06-02-2026 - 15:22

 

Written by Paddy McLean

Paddy McLean is the Faculty of Science and Technology Postgraduate Research Academic Rep.

 

 

For PGR students, the ability to work on campus is essential when it comes to the quality of their research and academic wellbeing with many PhD projects requiring students to be on campus 5 days or more to use the on-site facilities.

 

 

With the prices of parking and bus tickets increasing along with the limited options for cheap and healthy meals on campus, the cost of working on campus has become a real burden for Post Graduate Research (PGR) students. Investigating this issue has highlighted the confusion surrounding PGR’s status across campus and how it changes based on how it may benefit the university rather than the PGRs themselves.

For example, PGRs have access to the staff intranet and are on staff lists for each faculty, however they are not eligible for staff benefits. Staff benefits include subsidised bus tickets and parking permits which could really help ease the financial challenges PGR students are facing by working on campus.

 

How can you help? 
A questionnaire has been created for PGR students to voice their opinions on the cost of working on campus and how it has affected both their work and non-work life. This questionnaire is open to all PGR Students based at Lancaster University and aims to build a data set that shows this issue is not down to some small, isolated cases. PGR students bring value to the university through their work and research and the ability to claim these staff benefits will recognise this.

 

How your feedback will help us: 

• Identify key areas where PGR students are struggling with costs 
• Gain examples of PGR students experiences related to this issue  
• Identify areas of PGR life that have been negatively impacted by the increasing cost of working on campus. 

 

The questionnaire takes 5-8 minutes to complete and all responses are anonymous. 

By taking part, you are directly supporting the ongoing work of the PGR Faculty Reps and LUSU Officers to ease the financial challenges of working on campus.    

We would really value your input and appreciate your time. You can access the questionnaire here.