The country’s main student body is calling on the government to implement a cap on student rents.

The National Union of Students says it’s a central part of an overall package “to support students with the cost of living.”

Warning that students have been left behind by existing support, NUS has published a new report off the back of research claiming to show that a third of UK students have £50 or less to live on per month after paying rent and bills.  

The report was prepared in collaboration with the Higher Education Policy Institute and draws on recent research carried out by NUS, Save the Student! and other bodies. 

The NUS says that despite inflation reaching double digits, the value of maintenance loans for students in England has only increased by just over tow per cent in the past year. The group also claims that students have been “forgotten” in existing cost of living support schemes, and face a postcode lottery accessing council tax rebates, while full-time students completely frozen out of Universal Credit. 

The report makes the following recommendations to the government:

– Cap student rent “to prevent a student homelessness crisis”;  

– Tie student maintenance support with inflation;  

– Stress test all cost of living support schemes to ensure they work for students;  

– Reform Universal Credit to include fair access for students;  

– Provide funding to education providers to deliver improved hardship funds;  

– Adjust maintenance loan thresholds to reflect changes to family income.  

Recommendations are also directed at education institutions, including:

• Cap rents, increase the number of affordable rooms, and “support students unable to secure a place in halls”;  
• Ensure hardship funds are as simple to access as possible;  
• Make food on campus as cheap as possible and provide food vouchers;  
• Increase the pay of apprentices they hire in line with the living wage;  
• Provide travel subsidies;  
• Tailor support from careers services to help students who want or need to work.  

Recommendations are also directed at education institutions, including:

– Cap rents, increase the number of affordable rooms, and “support students unable to secure a place in halls”;  

– Ensure hardship funds are as simple to access as possible;  

– Make food on campus as cheap as possible and provide food vouchers;  

– Increase the pay of apprentices they hire in line with the living wage;  

– Provide travel subsidies;  

– Tailor support from careers services to help students who want or need to work.  

An NUS vice president, Chloe Field, says: “We urgently need the government to inflation-proof student loans and maintenance loans, bring in legislation to control student rent to avoid a homelessness crisis, and provide additional funding to education providers to bolster hardship funds. 

“In addition to specific support, the government must ensure that students are no longer excluded from general interventions intended to alleviate the cost-of-living crisis such as energy grants and one-off payments to households.” 

And Nick Hillman, director of the Higher Education Policy Institute (HEPI), adds:  “The evidence is overwhelming that the most urgent and pressing issue for students in 2022 is not fees, it is day-to-day living costs. Sadly, to date the government at Westminster has largely ignored students when it comes to tackling the cost-of-living crisis, with – for example – English maintenance loans going up by just over two per cent while inflation surges past 10 per cent.”