Monday 13-10-2025 - 12:49

 

 

The content of this article was originally submitted as part of the Students' Union paper to University Council on 10th October 2025

 

 
There is an image of student life which persists in peoples’ minds, one of carefree attitudes, of drinking, partying, and of irresponsibility; one which is outdated by nearly 15 years. This image lingers in the minds of lecturers, parents, employers, even prospective students themselves, and worryingly perhaps also in the minds of members of University Council. In reality, a student starting University this year faces something starkly different.



In August this year, the Higher Education Policy Institute (HEPI) published their report “A Minimum Income Standard for Students 2025”. Their findings showed that, for a minimum socially acceptable standard of living, covering the basics and allowing for full participation in university life – in essence, the student poverty line – a student living outside of London would need £21,126 for their first year of study, that is £2,347 per month for the 9 months they are studying in the year. 



The average maintenance loan awarded by the Student Loans Company (SLC) in the 2024/25 academic year was £7,678 – assuming an increase of 3.1%, in line with the maintenance loan increase, we should see students being awarded an average of £7,916 in 2025/26. This sum is clearly a significant shortfall compared to HEPI’s criteria; even the maximum maintenance loan of £10,544 doesn’t achieve half of this amount, and we haven’t even considered those students who don’t qualify for maintenance loan funding from the SLC.



The reality is, of course, students are not living off £2,347 per month, the average monthly spend of a student in the North West of England, including rent, is £1,057, equal to £9,513 in 9 months of study.

This is less than half the amount needed to meet the minimum socially acceptable standard of living, and notably also more than the average maintenance loan. The average student in Lancaster is living in poverty.



To make ends meet, more than two thirds of students will now be expecting to work during their studies, up from just under a half only three years ago, and nearly double that of 2015. We as a University are evidently aware of this shift in student activity, as we have changed our guidance on term time employment from recommending no more than 10-15 hours of part-time work per week alongside study, to actively encouraging students to find work with no mention of hours; this is despite most part-time work gaining no academic credit for the student, and those students who do work reporting that it has a negative impact on their capacity to study.



Nationally, 2% of students have reported relying on sex work to earn money, and we have no reason to think this wouldn’t also be the case in Lancaster.



Even with the dramatic trend towards part-time employment alongside study, students still aren’t meeting the threshold to sit above the poverty line; we need to look at what is being neglected where ends don’t meet. In the NatWest Student Living Index 2025 survey, nearly a third of students reported reducing the number of meals they have in a day, a quarter of students have reduced the amount of heating they use, and half of students reduced the amount they go on nights out.

Last year, the Students’ Union had applications for over £18,000 worth of financial support to access participation in sport at the University, we only had capacity to honour £2,000 of these applications. Further to this, we facilitated thousands of free hot meals to students with our weekly Supper Club, and we operated a student foodbank in The Pantry. Supper Club, The Pantry, and the Sports Access Fund have all had to be discontinued this year due to our own funding position. Similar hardship funding pots offered by the University are also being quietly reduced or removed at a time when students most need them.



And so, not only are our students cold, hungry, and desperately poor, but they are missing out on key social aspects of their university experience which has been promised to them by their parents, peers, lecturers, and this Council through the perpetuation of an outdated stereotype. Student poverty leads to student loneliness, poor academic outcomes, mental health crises with increased strain on our Student Wellbeing Service, student deaths by suicide.

In 2025, 29% of students reported having considered leaving their studies. Of those, 28% cited mental/emotional health, 11% financial difficulties, 6% difficulty balancing study and other commitments, and 5% feeling disconnected from other students – as has been discussed, these are all intrinsically linked to student poverty.



There are numerous compounding costs pulling students below the poverty line, but by far the highest outgoing for a student is the cost of rent, and such this paper will focus on that as an area we can make a difference. On the Bailrigg campus, the majority of our most basic accommodation for the 2025/26 academic year is priced at £142.52 for a 40-week contract, equal to £5,700.80 for the year; this will leave a student on the average maintenance loan with only around £2,200 for everything else the rest of their year. A student on the minimum maintenance loan will be nearly £1,000 short.

 

#	Comparator University	Weekly Price /£	Length /weeks	Total /£
1	Aberdeen	107.00	40	4,280.00
2	Leicester	102.00	42	4,284.00
3	Warwick	125.00	40	5,000.00
4	Kent	135.17	38	5,136.46
5	Loughborough	126.68	41	5,193.88
6	Surrey	139.50	38	5,301.00
7	UEA	134.47	40	5,378.80
8	York	141.00	40	5,640.00
9	Lancaster	142.52	40	5,700.80
10	Exeter	139.09	42	5,841.78
11	Bath	155.00	38	5,890.00
12	St Andrews	175.09	34	5,953.06
13	Dundee	153.82	39	5,998.98
14	Swansea	150.00	40	6,000.00
15	Durham	183.23	39	7,145.97

Table 1 Annual campus accommodation prices compared to comparator Universities

 

The table above shows Lancaster’s campus rent price position compared with our main comparator Universities, focussing on the ‘affordable offering’ at each. UCAS research in 2024 found that students choosing their university ranked low-cost accommodation as the 7th most important factor they consider, just above mental health support while studying. Financial support whilst studying, cost-of-living support, and universities that are close to home ranked 2nd through 4th respectively. At a time when students are expecting to work alongside their studies, it is only understandable that accommodation price is a key consideration when students are choosing their university, and more students are considering commuting to avoid accommodation costs altogether. By these metrics, Lancaster University is not in a competitive position.



Our accommodation prices are tied up in a contract with UPP Ltd, initially signed over 20 years ago. Not only do they set the prices of the accommodation they own, but they stipulate that we do not undercut them with our own offering of equal standard. The Students’ Union is repeatedly told that there is nothing that can be done about the price of accommodation – when our student numbers are faltering, one wonders if that is still the case.