In early 2023, Russell Group student unions commissioned research into the impact of the cost of living crisis on it's students. The online survey was completed by 8,800 recipients whose responses were recorded and evaluated.

Meg Haskins, Policy and Research Coordinator at University College London Students' Union discussed the findings:

“It's another crisis for students and for those that are living without a safety net, the impact has been profound.”

Although the effect of rising costs has impacted students broadly, there are clearly certain groups facing more acute challenges than others.

Among those disproportionally impacted in response to survey questions include black, international, and disabled students. All of these groups were more likely to have reported they had to stop taking part in extra-curricular activities because they could not afford to.

Furthermore, 67 percent of disabled students also reported their academic performance had suffered because of the crisis.

PhD students also had critical responses to the Russell Group survey, sighting inadequate stipends, and Masters students too reported maintenance loans at current levels left them with a financial black hole.

Meg said: “It's another crisis for students that are living without that safety net, the impact has been profound.

"It intersects into so many aspects of students’ lives and impacts on their ability to engage in other issues that they care about."

"The predominant theme we had was the impact on mental health."

UK government analysis in 2017 provided further evidence to an already established relationship between financial hardship and poor health, identifying income as one of the two key determinants in health and wellbeing.

Meg said: "The predominant theme we had was the impact on mental health.

"For example, some students reported that if they had suffered with depression in the past, they were now back on medication, or if they currently had depression the cost of living had exacerbated it.

“There’s a mounting pressure on their shoulders and a fog in front of them. Students are asking how are we going to get through this?”

The research found that mental health issues were often reported alongside other problems students were facing. Where students were facing issues in one area, for example struggling to pay utility bills, they were also likely to report a deterioration in mental health as well.

For wider context, Samaritans advised they were experiencing a seven percent rise in calls relating to financial concerns, compared to 2022. Although there was little data for calls directly discussing the cost of living.

Similarly, student listening service Nightline said that few callers specifically referenced the cost of living crisis, but the main issues students reported related to mental health, stress and relationships.

"When costs just continue to rise and the loan doesn’t, where are students expected to find this extra money?"

When considering what financial support currently exists, Meg mentioned university provided hardship funds and that unions were looking into increasing awareness of these sources as well as simplifying the application process.

However she too made it clear that increased financial support from government was in dire need.

Meg said: "When costs just continue to rise and the loan doesn’t, where are students expected to find this extra money?

"Its not giving them money for the sake of it, it’s just raising the support to where it should be."

Charlie Sellar, Vice President of Queen Mary Student Union, explained the impact on Queen Mary's students and what the union were doing to help:

Although not in a position to offer much in the way of direct financial support, the union had still found some innovative ways of helping. Charlie highlighted initiatives including discounted coffees on campus and a food pantry where students in need could pick up essential items for free.

Charlie said: "We’re doing little things to help where we can, and letting people know what options are out there."

"It's a question of do I break the law or do I starve."

Charlie also highlighted the increasing number of students looking to take up part-time, and in some cases full time, work to help ease the financial pressure.

To make ends meet, some international students were even having to take on more work than their visa restrictions permitted, currently capped at a maximum of 20 hours a week.

Charlie said: "I think a lot of students are, by requirement, taking up much more part-time work and that’s of course having an impact on their education.

"It's a question of do I break the law or do I starve."

Having been himself involved in lobbying efforts to allow students to work more part-time hours, Charlie did admit he hoped the government could do more to help.

Charlie said: "There’s not been a massive amount of consideration for university students during the cost of living crisis, and I think I can say that with some confidence.

"I would like to see some actual policy change from the government that recognises they care about students during these times."