Monthly Archives: September 2022

The Cost of Living Crisis

Inspiration, My Project, , , , ,

I sent an email to a member of staff that Richard had pointed me in the direction of, and they suggested I look into how the cost of living crisis is going to affect working class students. I have to admit, I had not considered this as something that was relevant to my project, but after more research, I think that it is.

https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/bills/article-11099735/Uni-students-deferring-places-cost-living-crisis-one-seven-fear-homeless.html

This article talks about a study conducted by Nationwide Building Society. The main bullet points of the article are:

  • 2/3 of students are struggling to afford their rent or have fallen behind in paying it
  • 22% of students know someone who has become homeless over the last year due to financial difficulties
  • 3/4 of students have had to borrow money from friends or family to afford rent and essentials like food
  • 4/10 students are reliant on their overdrafts
  • Whilst 4/5 A-Level students are applying to go to university, 15% of these are considering deferring their place because of the cost of living
  • Over 90% of A-Level students said that the cost of living crisis has affected how they feel about attending university this year
  • The cost of living has risen 9% this year and students are afraid it will rise even further
  • 3/5 students are worried about how they will afford their accommodation and 50% are worried about how they will afford nights out

This article is very confusing to me. I don’t know if it just the way that I digest statistics, but having them in a multitude of formats hurts my brain – I’d rather they were all fractions, or all percentages. However, that isn’t the important takeaway here. I think that these numbers are worrying – there was no information about the demographics of the participants in this study. But if we assume that there is a range of backgrounds amongst the participants, it is not only working class students who are worried about how the cost of living crisis is going to change things. And if someone who comes from what is considered to be a ‘comfortable’ background is concerned about money, then working class students must be very concerned.

This is just one study though so I think it’s important to look for corroboration or rebuttals against this.

Unite Students have an episode of their podcast Accommodation Matters about this particular issue. I found the whole thing interesting but this quote especially stuck out to me

Not only does this make the case for female students needing more money than their male counterparts, it talks about how they are suffering a lot more when it comes to mental health, sleep and even relationships. I have sent an email to the PR mentioned at the bottom of the survey they reference, to see if I can get a copy of the full survey.

https://www.unitegroup.com/articles/rising-cost-of-living-increases-pressure-on-parents-with-children-at-university-unite-students

https://www.unitegroup.com/articles/cost-of-living-crisis-students

https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/bills/article-11099735/Uni-students-deferring-places-cost-living-crisis-one-seven-fear-homeless.html

Further Feedback from Intervention

My Project, , ,

As we approach a new semester, I have asked for further feedback from my intervention in the form of statements about participating and any suggestions my stakeholders have for moving forwards with my project.

“Taking part in this activity, I thought I wouldn’t gain anything from it and that it was pointless. But I was so wrong. I learnt that how I feel about being working class isn’t unique to just me. I learnt that I am not as alone as I feel when I’m at university and I’ve kept in contact with the other girls who attended this online event. Felicity made us feel comfortable and I could tell that she could relate to the terms that we were all sharing.” Jess

“I had never thought about what the word ‘working class’ meant to me before. I’ve always refered to myself as working class but had never thought about what it meant to me. Taking part in this gave me the opportunity to really think about it, and I came to realise that there’s not just one definition for it. I learnt a lot from taking part and I’m intrigued by where your project is going to go next.” Mary

“I don’t know how you would take this forwards but I do know that it was nice to meet other students who feel the same way I do. I wish that UAL knew how I feel and what it is like being poor and out of place here.” L

“I think it would be useful for you to research if you can the demographics of the working class students here. Eg how many of them are disabled, have multiple jobs, have children and see if there is a common denominator. Maybe even their gender identity or sexuality? I’m not sure if that would be too invasive. But I think it could be interesting and might redirect your research.” S

From this feedback, I think I have an idea of what direction I need to take my secondary research in order to inform further interventions. Especially the last quote, where she suggested things that I could research.

Something I Missed

My Project, ,

During my presentation feedback on Wednesday, Richard informed that there is a whole group of people working on the same thing as my project in Student Services.

I’d not come across this through all my googling and the time I spent on the UAL website. And I think this illustrates just why my project is important.

If I, a researcher, couldn’t find any information about support for working class students, then what hope is there for students who are looking for this support? I plan to connect with these staff in student services and hopefully gain some insight into what they are working on, and what problems they have identified.

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Update 20th September

I emailed the person that Richard had pointed me in the direction of in the feedback after my Unit Two presentation, and whilst she is no longer working in this area, we had a very profitable email conversation. *I didn’t ask for consent to use her email address or name so I have blurred them out for now*

From this email conversation, I can see that there is still a lot of work I need to do in terms of researching the cost of living crisis and its impact on working class students, as well as positive discrimination and decolonisation work at UAL. Whilst she was unable to help with my project directly, I feel as though she has helped to redirect and focus my research going forwards.