Undergraduates are spending just over ?500 more on monthly living and accommodation costs than they receive in maintenance loans, new analysis suggests.

In the latest annual edition of the , published on 17 September, some 1,151 students were asked about different aspects of student life, including their financial situation.

Results showed students spend an average of ?1,142 per month on living costs yet received only ?640 a month in maintenance loans.

This monthly shortfall was ?502, although this was mitigated by a parental contribution of ?146 per month. That contribution fell by ?25 ¨C down from ?171 a month in 2024, with parental contributions ranging from ?54 a month for those from a household with income of ?25,000 or less to ?320 a month for those from households in the ?65,000+ bracket.

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According to the , some 41 per cent of students have thought about dropping out of university because of money-related issues, while 10 per cent of students use a food bank.

Responding to the survey, Vivienne Stern, chief executive of Universities UK, said, ¡°Money should not be a barrier to students accessing life-changing opportunities at university or be a reason students consider dropping out.¡±

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¡°Universities are stepping up efforts, with many offering bursaries, support schemes and assistance funds, but they can only do so much, particularly in the current financial climate,¡± she added.

The report was commissioned by student advice website Save the Student, whose student money expert Tom Allingham called for the UK government to raise the lower household income threshold ¨C the point at which a student receives the maximum loan ¨C to reflect the growth in average wages since it was set in 2007. This move would help lower- to middle-income families, he said.

¡°This would drastically increase the amount most students receive, and in turn reduce the contributions expected from their families,¡± said Allingham.

Calling for maintenance loans to catch up with inflation, Allingham explained that this would ¡°reverse years of real-terms cuts¡±.

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¡°We're demanding the government do this, to ensure that funding a degree is no longer such a struggle for students and their families,¡± he said.

Middle-class students had been ¡°hardest hit¡± by the fall in parental contributions, continued Allingham.

¡°Students from these backgrounds have always been at particular risk, as they're eligible for fewer bursaries, don't receive the maximum loan and, as these results show, come from families that often can't fund them to the extent expected by the government,¡± he said.

jack.grove@timeshighereducation.com