But many of its students are still having to work"up to 50 hours a week" to pay university and household bills."We've seen a big rise in the numbers of our students having to work alongside their studies," said Robbie Beale, officer of activities and culture for the University of Manchester's Students' Union.He said more than half of students now worked alongside their studies, a rise of 10% in two years.
"We found that many of our students are working 20, 30 hours, some even up to 50 hours in a week, which is crazy I know, but there are some students that just have no financial support to fall back on at all," he added. Mr Beale said this not only"impacts your studies" but also students' ability to"make friends and form the kind of connections that university is all about".The university said it has also seen a rise in the number of students choosing to live at home with family and commute to classes.
Maintenance loans, provided by the government and repaid by the student after their studies, have not risen in line with the rate of inflation over several years. These loans are intended to help pay for student living costs. Mr Beale said this has had a"big impact" on students, especially those who are living in private-sector accommodation where rental prices have risen over the past 18 months."The price of housing now is the same as how it was before but without bills, whereas previously it included all bills," she said.Food prices 'just keep going up'"They just keep going up," he said.