Are students living a life of luxury?

Former Member

This article annoyed me. Sorry to link to the Daily Mail.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1219169/Hard-Students-living-life-luxury-says-professor.html

It's a few years since I graduated but I'm sure things haven't changed that much. Sure, there are some wealthy students but I would say that most students work in their free time - use their overdrafts and loans to the maximum, and are quite frugal. I know when I was a student that I would often walk rather than get the bus, and use student discounts, and was (and still am) a real bargain hunter.

I don't think this guy has any right to judge. How does he even know someone is a student just by looking at them? People often presume I'm a student because I'm young (well -ish ) and don't dress very formally, but I actually work full time.

Are you a student? Do you live a life of luxury? If so, how? Or is this guy really out of touch with the average student?

Former Member

What a load of rubbish. I never ever lived a life of luxery - they should have seen my house in second year! Money was always tight and the loans are not enough. I had to take a few rubbish part time jobs. The only ones that could possibly live a life of 'luxery' are the posh kids from wealthy backgrounds. We called them rahs at my uni. I admit I lived in a very flash room in my first year but it was all that was available. And it cost a fortune. £114 a week. I'm not even paying that now for my room in LONDON.

Typical rubbish reporting by The Daily Mail.

Former Member

Daily Mail in talking rubbish shocker!

How clueless they are... :rolleyes:

Former Member

Wow, this professor is really out of touch if he still thinks that what time of day you use your mobile phone is of any consequence whatsoever. I don't think the people living off the "bank of mum and dad" are the ones that end up with huge debts at the end of it, somehow. But then student loans are a far cry from being the equivalent of the basic wage as they were when this professor was in university (without having to pay them back), so I wouldn't expect him to have even the slightest clue.

I knew one house at university that had Sky, but they were mature students, and £16 per month between 3 or 4 of you isn't a lot of money at all. That's less than 2 pints a month each.

But maybe he should be pointing to the universities that give these expensive cafes the right to open on their premises, and not offering any cheaper alternatives for people wanting to socialise.

Former Member

I don't know anyone who shops at Waitrose (I don't think there even is one here...) or M&S, phones and iPods don't strike me as luxury items, lmao at the idea of posh accomodation - seriously - and our sky (phone/tv/internet) costs £30 a month. That's £10 each. Hardly breaking the bank. Yes I have an expensive laptop but it was a join birthday/Christmas present from my dad and my boyfriend. Our tv is old as hell (although I do have a 19" LCD one which was a christmas present last year - it's not being used because it's more of a bedroom tv than a lounge one and I can't watch it in here). Our vacuum cleaner doesn't even work ffs.

Luxury my arse, quite frankly. When I have to get up at 4am and work for 9 hours 2-3 times at a week at McDonalds where I leave smelling like grease and with shit shit skin, I hardly think student life is "luxury".

Former Member

I would consider an iPod to be a luxery because most MP3 players of the same capacities are only half their price.

Former Member

I don't think most students live a life of luxury, but I get annoyed with the idea of deferring paying for your lifestyle until after university that a minority of students have. I also get annoyed at being looked down upon for NOT being a student by people who think that going to university and getting a degree is the be all and end all; I can afford to do more stuff that I like doing by having a job thankyouverymuch.

Former Member

Standards of living have gone up so supposed 'luxury items' such as iPods and laptops are commonplace now whereas they wouldn't have been when the old soak who wrote the article was about.

Very few people I knew at university were living in luxury. Yes, I knew rich people but very few whose parents were daft enough to just throw money at them. You don't become rich in the first place by throwing your wonga around willy nilly.

I suppose the trade off is that people who went to university 30 years ago may have had a slightly lower standard of living, but on the other hand were not saddled with £15k+ of debt upon graduating.

Former Member

Maybe things were harder for them back then. I mean once they had their grant there was no need to get a part time job to supplement it, or to even pay it back.

Times change, the guy needs to deal with it.

Former Member

The words of university professors on student issues such as this one should be taken with Grand Canyon sized pinches of salt. Recently, the Vice-Chancellor of the University of University of Buckingham and general cocktrumpet Terence Kealey said that "curvy" female students were a "perk of the job". Yep, these are the calibre of people running our universities. No wonder the education system in this country is fucked.

But surely the more important story for students right now is, thanks to a fuck-up by the Student Loans Company, over 175,000 STILL haven't got their loans - three weeks after the start of term?

Former Member

I think most people in this country live a life of luxury when compared to the rest of the world. It depends on what you call luxury too...

I lived better as a student, than the year after uni (I am in an alright job now), better than I ever had at home.

But not paying council tax, subsidised healthcare treament, not having to go to wrk 40 hours a week... Yeah, life was Ok.

Former Member

stargalaxy wrote: »

But surely the more important story for students right now is, thanks to a fuck-up by the Student Loans Company, over 175,000 STILL haven't got their loans - three weeks after the start of term?

Isn't that what interest free overdrafts are for? I don't know any student account that doesn't give you more than you'd get in your first loan installment anyway.

Former Member

I'm With Stupid wrote: »

Isn't that what interest free overdrafts are for? I don't know any student account that doesn't give you more than you'd get in your first loan installment anyway.

I got more than £2k in my first loan instalment (yay for low income!) and my student overdraft in my first year was £1250, which wouldn't have been enough for the rent I had to pay on October 1st.

Saying that, universities will understand the lack of rent payment if you've not got your loan yet. It's the ones who aren't in halls who are gonna have problems.

Former Member

N olife of luxury for me, I'm the worst off now than I've ever been...

Former Member

I live pretty comfortably. Spend about $50 a week on food, split the rent three ways, and still have some change left over for beer every once in a while. Course it's all borrowed money. Sometimes I chuckle when I see a panhandler because despite my comfortable life, in the grand scheme of things, he's probably got more money to his name than I do.