Politics

Those in the “silent middle” will also continue to suffer; those whose parents have a combined income of £50,000. They will receive a maintenance loan of around £6,412 according to Student Finance England. Students whose household income reaches this threshold are not eligible for any extra help from the university, and will therefore have to rely on their parents. If their parents are unable to support them, they will have to work whilst studying in order to cover their rent. This amount of money will not cover standard self-catered accommodation, potentially encouraging these students to a end another institution, where accommodation

explains:

Madeleine Ballay

Politics Editor

The cost-of-living crisis has dramatically affected student incomes. The House of Commons reported that, in 2022/3, the maximum student loan value decreased by 7.2% in real terms, despite a cash value increase of 2.3%.

In Durham, we have seen college accommodation prices steadily increase in the past decade. However, the jump in the cost of catered accommodation from £8,301 in 2022/3, to £9,156 next academic year, is what has caused anger in the student population.

is more affordable.

It is important to consider that tuition fees were introduced as a “top up” sum in the 1990s, paid merely to supplement government funding; since the tripling of fees to £9,000 in 2010, this amount has been meant to replace government funding altogether, and has turned students into customers in an ever-changing market, rather than citizens exercising their right to education. This approach has inflated the cost of higher education, resulting in the poorest accumulating the most debt, thus perpetuating economic inequality between generations.