Talia (not her real name) recently graduated from the University of Leeds. She said that for the entirety of her degree, her student loan didn’t fully cover the cost of rent, let alone provide money to live off.
“The most difficult time was when I first moved into my second-year house,” she told the JC. “Because it wasn’t done through the university, the first three months of rent all had to be paid before my student loan came in. I had to take £1,500 out of my overdraft – a debt which I’m still paying off.”
She also had to take on paid work and found herself working a 40-hour week on top of her studies, earning just £8 an hour. “Working on Saturdays and Sundays completely restricted my social life, and after rent and paying back [some of] my overdraft, I wasn’t even left with much to live off. Budgeting got really difficult.”
Once she turned 21, her pay increased to £10 per hour, but it was still below the legal minimum wage and left her struggling financially.
Talia is just one of thousands of students who, once they start university, find themselves struggling with paying rent, budgeting for their weekly shop and having any money left over for a social life – one of the biggest draws of going to university in the first place.
Josh (not his real name), 18, is currently a student. He grew up in what he describes as a comfortable, middle-class household but says he was never taught how to budget before university.
“One cost I genuinely wasn’t prepared for was how much going out and nightlife adds up at university. It’s not something anyone really warns you about beforehand, and it ended up being a much bigger part of my budget than I expected.”
Josh finds it difficult to witness how differently students live – some receiving financial help from their parents, while others struggle alone.
“I think everyone should feel like they can afford to go out and be part of things, rather than being left out because of cost,” he says.
Now managing a student loan, rent and living costs for the first time, he believes there is a significant gap in financial education for young people.
“As someone who is studying finance at university, it’s opened my eyes to just how little financial education teenagers get in the UK. I believe schools should introduce timetabled classes teaching students how to budget, how money works, and about finance more broadly.”
Starting on September 18, PaperWeight – an advisory hub for the Jewish community – has launched NextGen, a service designed to equip young people with the skills to manage their money independently.
Ben Dean-Titterrell, benefits executive at PaperWeight (photo: Paperweight)[Missing Credit]
It is partly in response to the knowledge that Jewish students heading to university this autumn face mounting financial pressures, as many struggle with housing costs in the midst of the cost-of-living crisis.
Recent research from the Higher Education Policy Institute revealed that 65 per cent of full-time UK undergraduates work alongside their studies, and 87 per cent of young people preparing for university expect to work during term time.
Save the Student (STS) found that 61 per cent of student renters struggle with housing costs, and 36 per cent have considered leaving university as a result of this. STS also reported that parental contributions have decreased as a result of the cost-of-living crisis.
NextGen offers 18 to 25-year-olds free practical financial education on topics such as budgeting, banking, debt, renting, tenancy agreements and employment. It also offers frontline help with financial, housing or administrative problems.
Ben Dean-Titterrell, who works as the benefits executive at PaperWeight, told the JC that students were frequently unprepared with suddenly having to handle their own finances when they started university.
“It can be quite a sharp jump from living at home and not having significant sums of money to suddenly having thousands of pounds in your account [from student finance] and having to budget and plan for yourself. It can be very easy to spend it all at once. There is a gap in preparedness for a lot of people.”
He said that debt, housing costs and financial pressures were increasingly affecting students.
“One thing that has particularly stood out to me is credit-card debt among younger people. People get a credit card and spend on it, and then suddenly, they have significant payments they cannot manage. Another credit card comes in, and things can spiral out of control very quickly.”
He said early financial education was vital in helping this generation develop the skills and habits they needed to manage money throughout their lives.
Someone who knows this only too well is Issy Gishen, 20, who is reading Hebrew and Jewish Studies at UCL.
Issy Gishen - paperweight student coordinator (Photo: courtesy)[Missing Credit]
At the same time, she is juggling several jobs, including nannying, shifts at Wembley Stadium, and her role as PaperWeight’s NextGen student coordinator.
She told the JC: “I honestly have no memory of learning anything at school about budgeting or managing money. The first time somebody actually sat me down and explained budgeting was on my gap year in Israel. I think students are very aware of money now. You hear people openly saying: ‘No, we can’t do that because we can’t afford it,’ or: ‘We need to be more careful and buy the cheaper version.’
“But there are also moments of real panic. You also hear somebody saying: ‘My rent is due, my student loan hasn’t come in, and I don’t know what to do.’ Nobody necessarily knows the best way to navigate those situations. You are just thrown into them.”
She adds: “Within the Jewish community, I think there can also be a pressure to keep up with the lifestyle you have grown up around. There can be a lot of following the crowd and wanting to fit in.
“There can also be additional costs around Jewish life. I spoke to someone who moved to London for her exchange year. When we looked at getting kosher meat, she felt it was just too expensive. She basically stayed vegetarian for the entire year because she couldn’t justify spending that much on kosher meat.”
In her role at PaperWeight, she says: “One of the most important things I would tell students is that it is OK to admit that you don’t know something. There is a pressure to appear very adult and as though you understand everything, especially when people are doing internships and thinking about careers. It is OK to say that you don’t know what you’re doing. It is OK to ask for help. The aim is to give students that knowledge before something goes wrong, rather than waiting until they are already in a crisis.”
PaperWeight has been providing free, practical, personalised assistance to people in crises, including illness, disability, debt and domestic abuse since 2010. It has supported around 30,000 people nationwide and helps around 2,500 people each year through its network of caseworkers and specialist advisers. The charity also runs Financial Conduct Authority-accredited debt clinics and family law clinics.
Bayla Perrin, CEO of PaperWeight[Missing Credit]
Bayla Perrin, CEO and co-founder of PaperWeight, told the JC: “At PaperWeight, we know how quickly a relatively small financial or administrative problem can escalate when someone does not know where to turn for help. NextGen is about intervening earlier. We want young Jewish adults to have the knowledge and confidence to manage their finances independently and, crucially, to know that expert, confidential support is there if they need it.
“University should be a time when young people are building their futures, not finding themselves overwhelmed by financial and administrative problems they were never taught to navigate. PaperWeight is here to provide frontline support at every stage, from education and early intervention to expert help if and when problems arise.”
To sign up for PaperWeight’s NextGen initiatives, please visit: paperweight.org.uk/other-paperweight-services/nextgen/ or click here. The charity also provides support for non-students. Go to: paperweight.org.uk or click here
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