South East Weighting

The Situation:

Students at London Universities receive 'London Weighting' which bumps up their student loans taking into account the high cost of food, accommodation, bills and other expenses.

Successive reports compiled by South East Area NUS (SEANUS) in 2005/6 and 2006/7 identified that London Students are entitled to roughly £2,000 more a year then students in the South East. They also both concluded that the huge difference in entitlement does not reflect the real difference between cost of living in the South East and London!

The upshot of this is shocking. After paying their accommodation costs alone, students in the South East are left on average with only £29 a week to live on, which is less then those on Job Seekers Allowance! In comparison London students receive on average £62 pounds a week to live on.

The Consequences:

Even sensible spenders struggle to live on the Student Loan provided for students living in the South East so they are forced to turn to alternative means to fund their time at University. Some have family that can contribute to accommodation or tuition fees, but for many students there are only two options:

They can take up part-time work. This is not only money that doesn't have to pay back but it gives them experience and skills which look good on the CV, however it is a proven fact that students that take up part-time work perform worse on average in their degrees. We believe students should not have to choose between a good degree or an adequate income. Part-time work should be a choice, not a necessity.

The other option is commercial bank loans, credit cards or student overdrafts! Bank loans and credit cards have high street interest rates of up to 10% attached to them, and student overdrafts while interest free at the point of use, demand similarly outrageous interest rates if a student is not able to pay it all back before graduating.

In comparison Student Loan interest is tied directly to inflation rates and reviewed each March. This year is an unusually high 4.8% but this is still considerable lower then anything available on the high street and student only need to start paying it back once their earning a degree level wager of £15,000 or more.

The Aim:

Quite simply we want to convince the Government that its time to introduce 'South East Weighting' to Student Loans in the South East that reflects the high cost of living and does not force students to seek alternative forms of income which can disrupt their degrees, contributes to the wider problem of commercial debt amongst young people, and undermines retention rates at Universities in the South East.

SEANUS are heading up a huge campaign in conjuncture with a large number of Student Union's across the South East to organise a petition to be presented to the government. Campaign materials have already been produced and can be edited to fit any University! Please contact us if you would like to run this campaign at your University!

We have growing political backing from a number of MP's:

“Students in the South East are having a tough time as in many parts of the region they are paying London Prices without the benefits of London Weighting.” - Martin Salter MP

Please write to your MP and ask them to back the campaign!