Kent Students spending loans quicker

University of Kent students have been spending their student loan at an alarming rate, with 5% of students having spent the entirety of their first instalment by October 20th, according to a survey by Sellmymobile.

Whilst not top of the standings, Kent finished 8th nationally, with Sheffield Hallam students taking the record with 10% of students most likely spending their loans before November.

The most common reasons as to why students had spent their allowance were down to nights out (87%), clothes (74%) and food (59%).

For most students their next loan payment won’t be deposited in their bank accounts until the next term begins in January, leaving them poor in the run-up to the festive period. Earlier this year a NUS report declared that working-class university students were suffering from a "poverty premium", and consequently left those affected asking the 'bank of mum and dad' for assisstance.

Surveying over 2,700 students, Sellmymobile also found that 23% of UK university students were close to running out of their maintanenance loan, with 66% having already done so. This has consequently led to students to getting credit cards (75%) and part-time jobs (32%) in a bid to stay in the black. Despite students turning to varying measures to cover government loans, 41% of undergraduate student believe that they will never pay off their student debt, according to a YouGov poll last year.

Spokesperson for Sellmymobile, Jack Webster elaborated: “With a healthy looking cash sum dropping into the bank for students who have typically relied on pocket money from their parents and Saturday jobs up to that point, it’s no wonder the urge to spend is strong.”

“But our research shows that those acting like payday loan day millionaires are already counting the cost of their decadence and living their last weeks of term on very strict budgets or, worse, running up debts to maintain their lifestyle."