Students at Bournemouth University have reached a breaking point with inflation affecting rent, food and other essentials pushing many to use food banks or even face eviction from their accommodation.
“Student rent is out of control” claim NUS (National Union of Students). Their ‘Freeze rent not students’ campaign proposes an immediate freeze on student rent. This would bring students some much needed security amidst the rising cost-of-living, with inflation currently at around 9%.
Landlords increasing rent in recent months has seen 5% of students facing eviction. This is over 14,000 students across the country being forced out of their accommodation, many in-turn forced into leaving university due to financial instability.
Students in Manchester are currently occupying university buildings and withholding rent “to lobby for more affordable housing as well as cost of living provisions” according to Students Union University of Manchester. However, this is a national issue, with students struggling across the country, with Bournemouth being no exception.
NUS have argued that students who are working multiple jobs alongside their studies still cannot sustain themselves at university, meaning many students choose to stay at family homes where possible. However, with many courses requiring students’ presence on campus it is unsurprising students are having to drop-out of education due to increasing student rent and unmanageable financial difficulties.
“UK governments are content to keep students out in the cold” according to a spokesperson from NUS finding that students who are still able to remain at university are said to be skipping meals and turning the heating off just to survive.
With Bournemouth hosting over 22,000 university students, how is this student crisis impacting the ‘coast with the most’?
Bournemouth students “starving themselves just to pay their bills”
“I’m living paycheck to paycheck” Alex Harrison a final year BU student explained, continuing, due to not receiving any financial support from university or parents, and Maintenance loan barely covering rent, he has to “work almost full time” alongside his studies, just to keep up with the rising cost of living.
Students Union Bournemouth University (SUBU) found in a survey in November 2022, 97% of BU students were said to be worried about rising costs of living.
“The average student receives just £485 a month from their Maintenance Loan” which is only just over half of the average living costs of students in the UK (at £924 a month) according to student budgeting expert Jessica Murray. However, data from the National Student Money Survey in 2022 indicates that along England’s South Coast average living costs for students are well above average at a staggering £962 a month. This highlights the reality that students in Dorset may be struggling even more than the average UK student.
Many Arts University Bournemouth (AUB) students are further disproportionately affected by the rising cost of living with several of their courses requiring extensive purchases for course content. Textile’s student Charlie Pembroke described “course purchases, fabrics, printing services and other materials takes up most of my loan” stating “mentally it’s a challenge.”
“We have a food bank [on campus], I’ve got a few pieces from there,” BU student Sabrina Azzout explained. SUBU’s ‘Community Kitchen’ which opened in October 2022, has seen a dramatic spike in demand.
SUBU’s Welfare and Community Officer who opened the Community Kitchen revealed that staff have to restock the shelves of the food bank “every day” to keep up with the demand.
“Students are a lot more anxious about their bills, they’re not turning on their heating… students have been spending a lot less money on food and starving themselves just to pay their bills” SUBU’s Welfare and Community Officer replied when asked how BU students are being affected by the rising cost of living.
Continuing heightened anxiety among the student population “has effected them mentally and physically in terms of nutrition.” With university staff seeing the increasingly harsh living conditions taking a physical and mental tool on students.
“It’s disgraceful how normalised it’s become” one researcher at the university contended, regarding the need for the community kitchen “it’s dystopian.”
With another senior professor revealing she had “no idea” there was a food bank on campus, but it is “awful” and more research should be done into how students can be supported.
This month The Government Energy Bills Support Scheme is ending, meaning student houses that were relying on this support will see their bills skyrocket again.
Last year over half of the UK reported that their health has been negatively impacted by rising cost of living according to a poll by YouGov and with government support schemes ending we are sure to see these health inequalities worsen in the coming months.
With Maintenance Loan not being enough for 66% of students, Save The Student campaign is calling for the government to make some “serious changes” to Student Finance to save thousands of students falling further into poverty.
As a university town, students massively boost Bournemouth’s economy, with students using public transport, filling local cafes, and working in those all-important tourist hotspots, pumping money back into Dorset. So, are we content in letting our student population use food banks on campus and freeze in their homes as a means to survive?
WHAT CAN I DO TO HELP?
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- Sign the
Freeze Rent Not Students
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- NUS campaign HERE:
https://www.nus.org.uk/freeze_rents_not_students
- Write to your local MP, contact details below:
> Tobias Ellwood (Bournemouth East) email: [email protected]
> Conor Burns (Bournemouth West) email: [email protected]
- Donate an item to SUBU’s Community Kitchen by calling 01202965765 or alternatively drop off any fresh or unopened non-perishable food, such as canned goods, to the Student Centre at Talbot Campus BH12 5BB
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- Join us in helping to bring reality and decency back by SUBSCRIBING to our Youtube channel:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQ1Ll1ylCg8U19AhNl-NoTg
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