Grad crisis? | Talent pool in limbo as cost-of-living puts elite students on brink of dropping out

New research from the Russell Group Students’ Unions – an institution which represents some of the UK’s elite universities – has revealed the negative pressures of the cost-of-living crisis on students at some of the UK’s best universities.

The study, which is the most extensive of its kind, shows that one-in-five students are considering dropping out of education because of economic pressures, as students live on average just £2 over the poverty line.

More than half of the study’s participants said their academic performance had suffered because of the cost-of-living crisis.

While it was also revealed that students are regularly skipping meals and going without essentials, taking on additional paid work, and missing lectures because of not being able to afford travel expenses.