It is easy to see the advantages of being a student – we pay no tax, our working week consists of about six hours' worth of lectures and instant noodles are part of our staple diet. However there is a bleak side, a side which has plagued me, and many other students I am sure, for the last four years of my university and further training life…NO MONEY!
 | | Stefanie Hancock: Hardworking but poor |
The system should help people like me as I am trying to be the kind of citizen that will sustain this country in the future. They should invest in me as ultimately I will be able to return the favour by earning more, spending more and being taxed more. Isn't there something economically sound in all this? Some may argue, invest in your people for they will invest in you? What goes around comes around? People in full time jobs talk about the work/life balance. Doesn't the same hold true for those who genuinely want to succeed at university? I tried to be particularly careful through university with my money, and decided from the first day that I would never even consider having an overdraft. My small student loan was spent entirely on my accommodation in halls of residence and student housing. I worked two jobs throughout my education time. I worked behind the bar at my local, Wrenthorpe Working Men's Club in Wakefield, where I work to this day. The other job was selling phone covers as a 'peddler' for a small local company. So I was earning on average about £60 to £80 a week. Not bad money and it did last me quite well. My mum and dad also helped out a great deal with food shopping and lending me the odd tenner when I was desperate. I managed to budget my life around that £60 to £80, and the sacrifice I made was that I never had the weekends free to socialise, get extra work done or just chill out. But hey, I'm not (that) bitter about it. I've got pretty used to it actually. At the moment I am currently juggling a weekend job at a high street clothes store, my job at the Club and my NCTJ [National Council for the Training of Journalists] Reporter Course at college. Now, although I am a bit of a spendthrift when it comes to clothes (I have a staff card at the place where I'm working – it's torture, pure torture!), I spend most of my money on petrol going to and from Sheffield from my home in Wakefield. I travel about 70 miles a day. | "Yes, I am bitter. Bitter that I have to fork out all this money when I should receive some help." | | Stefanie |
My problem with all this, and the reason for my moan (and let's face it, it is a moan) is that over my last four years in education I have received practically no financial aid from the 'system'. At university I received a student loan, which I have to pay back and will probably carry a ton of interest. Thanks for that. Even more irritating was the fact that my loan was a pittance because my mum and dad have decent jobs. I think that is disgusting. Just because my mum and dad have worked hard in their lives to get a good job, does not mean they can afford extra money to pay for me to go to university. So, because of that ridiculous system which determines loans according to parents' wage, I received practically nothing. To cap it off, I cannot apply for funding for my NCTJ course. There is no help available because I am older, a mature student etc. So the 280 miles I cover in my four day college week is funded entirely by me. I cannot even apply for a student rail card to get cheaper train fares BECAUSE I GET THE TRAIN BEFORE 10AM. How unbelievable is that? So, yes, I am bitter. Bitter that I have to fork out all this money when I should receive some help. Yes, it is to better myself so I should pay. But I should also be able to ask for a little help without being excluded for ridiculous reasons.
 | | 'I spend most of my money on petrol' |
What happened to grants? What happened to the days when people who were keen to study to achieve their dream job also received a little handout to help them with travel and accommodation, so all they had to concentrate on was their work and not how many hours they had to work that weekend? People think that students are 'tax-evading bums' who are 'lazy good-for-nothings' and 'anybody can be a student nowadays anyway – it's a good skive off'. This may apply to some people but what about the people who work hard and are really there to learn, like myself? The reward for all my hard work and effort, to create a future for myself and future children, is to be punished later in life when I have to pay for their education because no one else will. | 
