THE government was urged to increase university maintenance support today after a new report suggested that eligible students would still have to work for 20 hours to afford a basic standard of living. 

The analysis, by the Higher Education Policy Institute, TechnologyOne and the Centre for Research in Social Policy, estimated that students need around £61,000 over the course of a three-year degree for living costs, excluding tuition fees, rising to £77,000 in London. 

However the maximum maintenance loan of £10,544, which is only available to people from low-income households, covers just half the costs faced by first-year students, the report found.

Nick Hillman, director of Hepi, said that maintenance support is “woefully inadequate,” and is even forcing some students to take out commercial debts with high interest rates. 

The report found that even with the highest maintenance support, students would still have to work an estimated 20 hours at the minimum wage to afford a minimum socially acceptable standard of living.

A spokesperson for Universities UK said that the report demonstrates that the current maintenance package “just doesn’t go far enough.”

“This is why we are calling on the government to increase maintenance support offered to students to better track inflation and living costs, so that everyone with the potential to succeed can do so, whatever their background.”

Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson has said the government is “looking at all of the options” for how to support university students facing costs, and that it recognises there is “still more to do” to tackle some of the disparities that young people experience.