Jennifer Evans considers whether it would be better to distribute students loans a weekly or monthly, rather than termly, basis

The day you receive your student loan is, for the majority of students, like all your Christmases have come at once. Your bank balance suddenly jumps from £0 to over £1000 in just one day and the temptation to go all out and purchase a Mac, a once in a lifetime holiday or at the very least copious amounts of alcohol is enormous.

Such frivolous spending results in students often getting to the end of term with next to no money and that terrifying phone call home to beg your parents for something to tide you over as your ‘textbooks’ for that term were particularly expensive.

Should there then be better regulation of how students spend their money? The idea is one which is already in practise at the University of East London with regards to its bursaries and grants.  Students are only allowed to spend their money on necessities such as books and rent, something which UEL’s pro vice- Chancellor Selena Bollingbrooke has stated leads to better results and better attendance.

However, is it right to dictate to adults how they should be spending their money? There are no conditions as to how the average loan given by a bank should be spent so why should it be any different for students.  Ultimately, it is our decision whether we spend the money at Victoria 22 or in Blackwells. It would surely be better to educate students as to how to be more responsible with their money than to impose a system echoing that employed by Communist states – monitoring how we spend our money on a daily basis.

There is also the question of whether it would be better to distribute student loans weekly or monthly in order to ensure that students don’t spend it all in one go on a luxury item that in the real world would take someone years to save for.  If instead of getting over £1000 on one day, you got £100 weekly then maybe students would not get to the end of the term penniless and sobbing on the phone to their parents. But, then again, this could encourage students to recklessly spend their weekly allowance safe in the knowledge that they would be getting a new payment in just a few days.

Speaking to fellow students, the reaction to the changes discussed was far from unified. Izzy Stewart-Roberts, second year English and Classics student stated that “I would prefer to have my student loan distributed throughout the term. It is far too tempting to spend all your money in the first few weeks and by the end of the term you end up having to really watch how much you spend in order to be able to afford the bare essentials”. This stress surrounding money problems on top of already enormous exam stress could be counteracted by distributing the loan weekly or monthly and would allow students to concentrate on what is really important at university, academic success and enjoying themselves. However, with some students relying on the student loan to pay for their rent in termly instalments and landlords who are far from sympathetic, giving money out in weekly instalments could result in students not having enough money at the end of the term for rent and bills.

There is also an issue surrounding student overdrafts, some of which can be extended to £1500, an amount which would not be covered by the average student loan. Cutting these overdrafts, then, would surely lead to students being more responsible with their money  as they would know that once all their money is spent, they are not going to get any more of what one student described as ‘free money’.