All Work and No Play...
University used to be the time when students could let loose and behave badly, but recent research paints a very different picture.
A Sodexho/Times Higher Education Supplement survey has revealed that two out of five students now work part-time as well as juggling university commitments. A third of students live on under £40 a week and one in ten on an average of £9.50 after rent has been paid.
Oxford University colleges state that students can only work "under exceptional circumstances" and that students should consult their tutors before taking up work in the vacation. However, it is an open secret that many students do work during term-time, let alone during the holidays.
A second year student at Keble College, who works twelve hours a week during term and double shifts over the holidays, told The OxStu: "I work to live. The student loan and overdraft barely pay off fees and battels at the beginning of the first term."
However, she added that in her opinion, the rules on people working while at Oxford should not be changed as, given the choice, she would not work during term-time either.
For students from a lower income background, even with grants it seems there simply isn't an option of not working, despite what the University wants.
David Kyffin, Landlord of The Kings Arms and city councillor, told The OxStu that he thinks the University's position on students working is "archaic", and that for the four students who work for him, the £50 a week they earn on average "is the difference between living and simply surviving" .
Students now struggle with an average of £4760 debt, a rise of 40 per cent since the year 2000, meaning things have to change.
29th Apr 2004