Student experiences of financial support in summer 2021: insights

Results

The findings for each question are presented below.

Course level

Respondents were asked if they were studying in FE or HE in Scotland.

Almost half of respondents to this survey said that they were studying a degree level course at University (49%). 28% were undertaking a Further Education level course at college. 12% were undertaking a Higher Education course at college and the remaining 11% were undertaking a postgraduate course at university (see Table 1).

Table 1: Level of course currently undertaken by survey respondents

	Number of respondents	Percentage of respondents	2020/21 FTE comparative proportionsa
Degree level course at university	367	49%	49%
FE level course at college	210	28%	25%
HE course at college	92	12%	11%
Postgraduate course at university	86	11%	15%
Total	755	100%	100%

Notes: missing response count, i.e. total number of missing respondents to this question = 3.

Percentages have been rounded to the nearest whole.

Question: what level of course are you currently undertaking?

^a Full-time equivalent (FTE) proportions for colleges were retrieved from SFC College Statistics 2020-21; FTE proportions for universities were estimated by SG analysts from HESA 2020-21 data and rounded to the nearest five.

Table 1 also reports on Full Time Equivalent (FTE) compartive proportions to provide further context about the sample used in this survey. Overall, the breakdown of responses received to this survey is consistent with the national level figures for 2020/21. HESA data for FTE for undergraduate students in universities, and SFC data for HE students at colleges, show a similar distribution to responses received to this survey (49% and 11%, respectively).

On the other hand, responses received in this survey are showing an underestimation of postgraduate students in universities (15% FTE according to HESA data) and an overestimation of FE students at colleges (24% FTE according to SFC). Differences between the existing FTE student population data and the respondents to this survey could be a result of the survey not asking respondents for their mode of study (i.e. full-time or part-time). Thus, part-time students might be under-represented in this comparsion.

Financial support over the summer of 2021

The survey asked respondents if they had struggled with financial support or income during the summer of 2021.

The majority of respondents to this survey self-reported experiencing difficulties with financial support over the summer of 2021 (74%). Of these respondents, around 57% said that they had struggled with financial support / income over the summer more than they did during term time. A further 5% said that they struggled with financial support / income over the summer but less than they did during term time, and 15% said that they did not struggle with financial support / income over summer 2021 (Figure 1).

Notes: for a total of 757 and a missing response count, i.e. total number of missing respondents to this question = 1.

Percentages have been rounded to the nearest whole.

Question: did you struggle with financial support / income over the summer break, i.e. you struggled to pay your rent and / or bills?

Annex A (table A1) shows student responses by level of study. Similar to the overall trend, for all levels of study, the majority of students reported struggling with financial support during the summer: 88% of HE college respondents; 77% of respondents doing a degree in university; 69% of FE college students; and 60% of postgraduate students at universities. Of these respondents, the majority also reported struggling more during the summer of 2021 than during term time. This corresponds to: 70% of HE students in college; 63% of degree students at university; 51% of FE students in college; and 38% of postgraduate university students.

Employment

Figure 2 shows that half of respondents (50%) said that they were in paid employment at some point over the summer (of whom 27% were in employment for all of the summer of 2021, 14% for some of the summer, and 9% for most of the summer). 46% said that they were not in paid employment at all over the summer of 2021, with the remaining respondents preferring not to say.

Notes: for a total of 756 and a missing response count, i.e. total number of missing respondents to this question = 2.

Percentages have been rounded to the nearest whole.

Question: are you / have you been in paid employment over the summer 2021 break?

Looking at responses across FE and HE, 57% of FE college respondents; 52% of HE college students; 49% of postgraduate university students; and 38% of degree university students said that they were not in paid employment over the summer of 2021. This compares to 34% FE college; 47% HE college; 42% postgraduate university; and 61% degree university students reporting being in some form of paid employment during either all, most or some of the summer period. Further detail is provided at Annex A (table A2).

The most common reason provided by respondents for being employed for part of the summer of 2021 or not employed at all over the summer was the lack of employment opportunities (mentioned by 41% of respondents). The next most common reason was "my personal circumstances affected my ability to work" (29%) (see Table 2).

Table 2: Reasons given by student respondents for only being employed for part of the summer or not at all over summer 2021 (respondents were invited to select all that apply)

	Number of respondents	Percentage of respondents
Lack of employment opportunities	222	41%
My personal circumstances affected my ability to work, e.g. illness, shielding	156	29%
I have caring responsibilities	101	19%
Reduced working hours	73	14%
I did not want to work more than part of the break	47	9%
I was made redundant	17	3%
Other	82	15%
Prefer not to say	29	5%

Notes: this question was only shown to 554 participants. This corresponds to participants that answered the previous question as either not being employed or only being part employed during the summer of 2021.

Missing response count, i.e. total number of missing respondents to this question = 14.

Percentages have been rounded to the nearest whole. No total is provided since participants could select more than one option/ reason that applied to them. No text box was given for the 'other' option.

Question: if you were only employed for part of the summer 2021 break or not employed at all over the break, what were the reason(s) for this? (please select all options that apply to you).

Rent and accommodation costs during summer 2021

The majority of respondents to this survey said that they paid rent / accommodation costs over the summer of 2021 (67%). Of which, 59% said they paid the same amount as they did during term time and only 2% of students said that they paid accommodation costs over the summer but at an increased amount than during term time. Finally, 27% of respondents reported that they did not have to pay any accommodation costs over summer 2021 (Figure 3).

Notes: for a total of 757 and a missing response count, i.e. total number of missing respondents to this question = 1.

Percentages have been rounded to the nearest whole.

Question: did you pay rent / accommodation costs over the summer 2021 break? (Please select all options that apply to you).

In line with the overall trend, for all levels of study the majority of students reported paying rent / accommodation during the summer: 73% of HE college respondents; 74% of postgraduate student respondents at university; 70% of respondents doing a degree at university; and 54% of FE college students responding to the survey. Of these respondents, the majority also reported paying the same amount during the summer of 2021 as during term time. This corresponds to: 69% of HE student respondents in college; 51% of postgraduate university students respondents; 62% of degree student respondents at university; and 53% of FE student respondents in college (see Annex A, table A4).

It is worth clarifying that this question only asked if respondents were paying for accommodation during summer. This question did not ask if they were residing in the accommodation during this period. So, these findings should be interpreted with this in mind.

Hardship experiences and application to funds

The survey also gathered information about students' perceptions of financial hardship experienced during summer 2021.

476 respondents to this survey said that they experienced financial hardship over the summer (63%). On the other hand, 28% said that they did not experience financial hardship, with the remaining respondents preferring not to say (9%) (Table 3).

Table 3: Experienced financial hardship

	Number of respondents	Percentage of respondents
Yes	476	63%
No	212	28%
Prefer not to say	66	9%
Total	754	100%

Notes: missing response count, i.e. total number of missing respondents to this question = 4.

Percentages have been rounded to the nearest whole.

Question: did you experience financial hardship over the summer 2021 break, i.e. you struggled to pay your rent and / or bills and were unable to reduce your expenditure?

Looking at experiences of financial hardship by level of study, 77% of HE college students responding to the survey said that they had experienced financial hardship over the summer of 2021. This compared to 67% for degree university students; 55% of FE college students; and 54% of postgraduate university students (see Annex A, table A5).

The majority of respondents to this survey (70%) said that they did not apply for any discretionary or hardship support over the summer. Students that applied for discretionary or hardship support accounted for only 24% of the total respondents to this question. Of these, 11% said that they were successful in receiving support (Figure 4).

Notes: this question was shown to 546 participants that answered the previous question with "yes" (N=476) or "prefer not to say" (N= 66). Additionally, 4 missing respondents from the previous question responded to the present question. Missing response count, i.e. total number of missing respondents to this question = 1. Percentages have been rounded to the nearest whole.

Question: did you apply for discretionary hardship support (financial) from your college, university or education provider over the summer break?

Further analysis by level of study shows that 76% of postgraduate university students responding to this survey said that they did not apply for any discretionary or hardship support. This is followed by 71% of HE college students; 69% of FE college students; and 69% of degree university students also stating that they did not apply for discretionary hardship support over the summer. This compares with the overall trend of 25% of HE college respondents; 25% of degree respondents studying at university; 21% of FE college respondents; and 21% postgraduate university respondents reporting that they applied to discretionary funds (see Annex A, table A6 for further information).

Respondents who said that they had applied for discretionary hardship support were asked to provide insight into their experiences of the application process (Table 4). As such, respondents to this survey reported that the application process was:

• Straight forward (37% of those applying for hardship support).
• Complicated (30% of those applying for hardship support).
• Required too much additional information / evidence supporting the application (27% of those applying for hardship support).

Table 4: Experience of application process (respondents were invited to select all options that applied)

	Number of respondents	Percentage of respondents
I found the application process straight forward	57	37%
I found the application process to be complicated	47	30%
I was asked for too much additional information / evidence to support my application	42	27%
I was asked for a reasonable amount of evidence to support my application	34	22%
My application took too long to be processed	33	21%
My application was processed within a reasonable amount of time	29	19%
I feel indifferent about the application process	18	12%

Notes: this question was only shown to 163 participants that answered the previous question with "yes" or "prefer not to say". Missing response count, i.e. total number of missing respondents to this question = 8. Percentages have been rounded to the nearest whole.

No total is provided since participants could select more than one option.

Question: if you were experiencing financial hardship over summer and applied for discretionary / hardship support from your college, university or education provider, what was your experience of the application process? (please select all options that apply to you).

The two most common reasons noted by respondents to this survey for not applying for discretionary / hardship support, despite experiencing financial hardship over the summer were (Table 5):

• I was not aware this type of support was available (48% of respondents to this question); and
• I did not think my application would be successful (a third of respondents to this question – 33%).

Just under a quarter of respondents to this question (24%) said that they felt that "others were in more need of this support than me".

Table 5: Reasons for not applying for discretionary / hardship support (respondents were invited to select all options that applied)

	Number of respondents	Percentage of respondents
I was not aware this type of support was available	181	48%
I did not think my application would be successful	126	33%
I felt others were in more need of this support than me	92	24%
I received financial support from friends or family	61	16%
I did not feel comfortable applying to my institution for this support	59	15%
I used other forms of lending such as credit card or loan	44	12%
The application process is too complicated	41	11%
I do not know – I haven't really thought about it	35	9%
The application process takes too long	19	5%
Other reasons – please specify	25	7%
Prefer not to say	6	2%

Notes: this question was only shown to 382 participants that answered the question in Figure 4 with "no". Missing response count, i.e. total number of missing respondents to this question = 1.

Percentages have been rounded to the nearest whole. No total is provided since participants could select more than one option.

Question: if you were experiencing financial hardship over summer but did not apply for discretionary / hardship support, what prevented you? (Please select all options that apply to you).

Thematic Analysis of "Other" category responses for not applying for discretionary/ hardship support in summer 2021

25 respondents (7%) to this survey provided other reasons as to why they did not apply for discretionary / hardship support, despite experiencing financial hardship over the summer (Table 5). Their reasons (which were provided in an open text box) have been grouped under the following themes. Whilst they cannot be generalised, they provide some insight into the views and perceptions of students who had said in this survey that they did not apply for discretionary/ hardship support.

Theme

Receiving benefits: Students said they were not eligible to apply for discretionary / hardship support as they were receiving benefits

Example of quotes/ insight provided by respondents to this survey

• "Applied for Universal Credit, but my application has been unsuccessful (…)"
• "ESA and Universal credit at the time"

Theme

Awareness of financial support: Students reported not knowing what the discretionary / hardship fund is

Example of quotes/ insight provided by respondents to this survey

• "I have no information on what the discretionary / hardship fund is".

Theme

Eligibility for financial support: Students reported experiences of not knowing this support existed and issues around eligibility.

Example of quotes/ insight provided by respondents to this survey

• "Financial support from college was available during the course term only, not the summer before enrolment even if accepted a place on the course"
• "Partner at time earned too much to be eligible for support"
• "Changed university and didn't think qualified for discretionary funds from either of them"

Theme

Perceptions of others and not feeling comfortable providing financial information: Students expressed concerns about stigma from others and not feeling comfortable providing the information asked

Example of quotes/ insight provided by respondents to this survey

• "I didn't want to be judged by the university"
• "The amount of personal financial information needed to support the application was off-putting"
• "The level of personal information they ask for is invasive and humiliating"

Theme

Use savings: Students resorted to the use of savings to support themselves during the summer

Example of quotes/ insight provided by respondents to this survey

• "I tried to save up as much as I could during term time when I received the student loan"

Theme

Not worth applying for support: Students reported a lack of motivation for applying

Example of quotes/ insight provided by respondents to this survey

• "I didn't think I'd get enough money if I was successful"

Access to Social Security Benefits

Figure 5 shows that almost half of respondents said that they were not eligible for benefits over the summer months (48% of respondents to question 11). Around a quarter of respondents did not know if they were able to access financial support from benefits for living costs and / or housing costs over the summer months (25%).

Notes: for a total of 753 and a missing response count, i.e. total number of missing respondents to this question = 5.

Percentages have been rounded to the nearest whole.

Question: were you able to access financial support from social security benefits for living costs over the summer months? (i.e. the months you were not in receipt of student financial support)?

Looking at responses across FE (college) students, a third of those responding to the survey (33%) said that they did not know if they were able to access social security benefits. 62% of degree university; 46% postgraduate at university; 41% of HE college students; and 29% of FE college students responding to this survey said that they did not apply for benefits as they said they were not eligible. Further results by for HE / FE students are presented in Annex A (table A9).