The UNITE Student Living Report 2004

This year's UNITE Student Living Report 2004 is the most comprehensive, independent and in-depth study of the views, concerns and aspirations of today's full-time undergraduate and postgraduate students in the UK.

The key findings of the fourth annual survey include:

GOING TO UNIVERSITY IS WORTHWHILE:

More than nine in 10 (95%) students agree "Going to university is a worthwhile experience". Six in 10 (58%) feel they receive either 'very' or 'fairly' good customer service, while 13% believe this service to be 'very good'. 90% of students have a favourable opinion and impression of their university, while 77% 'agree' that "University has set me in good stead for my working life". Overall, 85% of students in the survey 'agree' that "I am optimistic about the future".

FINANCES AND DEBT:

Students say that they currently owe an average of £4,760, an increase of £157 since the last survey. The UNITE MORI Student Debt Index shows that current debt has increased by 43% since the Autumn of 2000. This year's findings also show that students are borrowing more on credit cards and commercial loans.

TOP UP FEES:

The survey shows that a significant minority of students would seem to be against the introduction of variable top up fees, as two fifths (38%) believe that if their university had demanded such a fee, they would have 'probably' or 'definitely' chosen another university. One in six said that they would have 'definitely' chosen a different university. However, 55% of students say they would still have chosen — or probably would still have chosen — the university they currently attend even if that university had charged an additional top-up to the existing fee.

When students were asked to answer this question on a number of hypothetical monetary values, 64% of students said that they would have 'probably' or 'definitely' chosen a different university if the top up fee was £3,000. This dipped to 36% when a top up fee of £1,000 was suggested. If the top up fee was increased to £5,000, seven in 10 students said that they would 'probably' or 'definitely' reconsider.

PARENTS AND FAMILIES FOOT THE BILL FOR HIGHER EDUCATION:

Parents and families are helping students where they can, with over half of students (53%) who receive such help getting at least £500 per term and a fifth (21%) receiving £1,500 or more per term. Parents and families are most likely to put these monies towards tuition fees (42%), which has resulted in a decline, over the four years of the study, in their contributions in other areas such as paying living expenses, support in the holidays, with food and helping out in a crisis. Whilst students from well-off backgrounds get the most, 14% of students do not receive any financial help from their parents — rising to 20% of students from working class backgrounds.

LIFE AFTER UNIVERSITY:

Fewer students than last year plan to go travelling (13%) or go on holiday (five per cent) whilst the proportion of students intending to start work straight away has increased by eight percentage points to 41%. Eight in 10 students are optimistic about their job prospects, although 62% 'agree' that "increasing numbers of graduates will make it harder for me to get a job."

For the full report visit: www.unite-group.co.uk

Technical details

• This is the fourth wave of UNITE's Student Living Report
• MORI conducted 1,065 face-to-face interviews with full-time undergraduate and post-graduate students between 30 October and 27 November 2003.
• 21 Universities were selected from England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The selection of universities was representative of region and type of university (old and new).
• The sample profile of students has been consistent across all four waves of the study and fieldwork is conducted at the same time each year.