Students in Scotland Borrowing to Frightening Levels

A shocking set of statistics have come out of Scotland recently, with numbers indicating that 70% of Scottish students are spending more than the 10 hours per week working to pay for their studies. This is beyond the amount recommended for students due to the time they need for their studying. More than half of these students have borrowed from banks or credit card companies according to a study that questioned over 6,000 students on behalf of the National Union of Students in Scotland (NUS).
While the group who conducted the study is suggesting that the government take steps to fix the problem, the Scottish Government is claiming that it has already taken such steps. For those who are in debt in Scotland, a Scottish Trust Deed (link!) may be their primary option to get themselves back on track and many students are finding that turning to this option could help, but still the debt levels are quite high.
According to the survey’s results, 52% of the debt students took on came from commercial lenders such as banks or credit card companies, 67% owed their friends or family members, students loans were given to 61% of those surveyed and over a third of these students owed money to all three of the lending sources above. What may have enabled this amount of lending is the fact that the Student Loans Company was offering some of the lowest interest rates in history but the interest rates of other lending sources remained high in comparison. This can lead to confusion over the the interest rates of various loans taken out over time.
The survey reported that nearly half of graduates of universities, over a third of postgraduate students and a third of college students were most concerned with commerical loans out of all their debt sources. The NUS is calling for to raise the amount possible for student loans while offering more to particularly impoverished students. They are also seeking a ‘Summer Holiday’ grant they believe will help students during the break period in their schooling.
Welcoming the input of the NUS, the Scottish government and will consider the additional information in their future examinations of funding student education.
In total, the survey itself polled students from 18 different institutions of higher learning and more than 20 further education colleges.

A shocking set of statistics have come out of Scotland recently, with numbers indicating that 70% of Scottish students are spending more than the 10 hours per week working to pay for their studies. This is beyond the amount recommended for students due to the time they need for their studying. More than half of these students have borrowed from banks or credit card companies according to a study that questioned over 6,000 students on behalf of the National Union of Students in Scotland (NUS).

While the group who conducted the study is suggesting that the government take steps to fix the problem, the Scottish Government is claiming that it has already taken such steps. For those who are in debt in Scotland, a Scottish Trust Deed may be their primary option to get themselves back on track and many students are finding that turning to this option could help, but still the debt levels are quite high.

According to the survey’s results, 52% of the debt students took on came from commercial lenders such as banks or credit card companies, 67% owed their friends or family members, students loans were given to 61% of those surveyed and over a third of these students owed money to all three of the lending sources above. What may have enabled this amount of lending is the fact that the Student Loans Company was offering some of the lowest interest rates in history but the interest rates of other lending sources remained high in comparison. This can lead to confusion over the the interest rates of various loans taken out over time.

The survey reported that nearly half of graduates of universities, over a third of postgraduate students and a third of college students were most concerned with commerical loans out of all their debt sources. The NUS is calling for to raise the amount possible for student loans while offering more to particularly impoverished students. They are also seeking a ‘Summer Holiday’ grant they believe will help students during the break period in their schooling.

Welcoming the input of the NUS, the Scottish government and will consider the additional information in their future examinations of funding student education.

In total, the survey itself polled students from 18 different institutions of higher learning and more than 20 further education colleges.

Leave a Reply