Effects of the cuts - NUS: Students turning to prostitution to fund studies

[breadandbutterfly]

Horrifying - and totally predictable.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-16157522

predicatable? don't think so, don't really belive the study either, they must be a bit thick

also students have always done the medical experiement route surely

Agree with Winterfox. Students don't have to pay back their loans until they are in jobs paying good wages so those opting to work as prostitutes are obviously doing so to fund current spending.... that's not down to any cuts and is purely a matter of personal morality.

Do you mean 'current spending' like rent, food, books?

that's entirely down to recession, as no pt jobs for the students, and their parents feeling the squeeze and unable to help.

Yes, day to day spending. In that respect, students are no different from anyone else. We all have choices about how to make a living, we're all finding it more difficult in a recession and if some people are making bad choices or opting for illegal means, that's really their decision.

Have you actually bothered to read the article before commenting?

Apparently not - as the article gave the example of a girl who had lost her EMA following the cuts, and as a result could not afford to pay for her studies NOW.

Do you think you could possible bother to actually click on the link next time before commenting? Ta.

She lost her EMA ... therefore she starts turning tricks? Sorry, but that's no-one's decision but her own.

well yes, cogito, lots of people face financial hardship and have hard choices to make. that's just reinforcing op's point rather than negating it.

It's laughable that folk have fallen for the 'you don't have to pay for your studies until you've finished' line. True with regard to fees. Not true with regard to rent, food, transport etc etc. Most maintenance loans/grants don't cover the essentials, rent alone can see it gone in a flash. Rising food and transport costs, little in the way of part-time work and no help from mum or dad and frankly your average student is scuppered.

I'll go read the study now bread and butterfly

And I did read the article. She had choices but opted to turn them down for stupid reasons. 'Unsociable hours'? FFS.

It says that the numbers have been increasing for 10 years, so there is more to this than The Cuts I think.

How many students were involved in the study I wonder?

I don't know what she meant by 'unsociable' - I suspect what she means is what a number of my students mean (I teach in this age group), when they say they can't get a job that fits in with college hours, because they are only available for limited hours due to lessons - these are not students with a couple of tutorials a week, these are 16, 17 year olds with fully-timetabled classes. You try finding a job to fit in with full-time studies. Night work is out - you'd be far too tired to study (though I have had the odd student trying to combine the two - v obvious, as they fall asleep in classes). :(

Here's a very similar story from 2010

I read this and wasn't surprised. I had three paying part-time jobs at uni (including things like campus guide, which only applied every couple of months) and was the only person I know to graduate not in my overdraft.

Now times are more difficult and people are offering themselves for unpaid work experience (a fellow PG student offered, in an interview for a position I went for as well, to work for the company unpaid over the summer if they couldn't offer him the job - needless to say I couldn't afford to do this, he had the work experience and they didn't hire anyone when maybe a few years ago they would have paid someone to do that experience) it means there are far fewer options available.

TBH, I know that I don't have to pay my loan back until I earn above the threshold but if I were looking at the level of debt current students are then I'd be trying to make as much as I could to pay it off quickly - a debt is a debt and it makes you worry whether or not you 'have' to pay it back now. It is a huge sum hanging over your head and affecting how much you can pay in rent, whether you can afford children or any other number of life expenses - one of my friends was counting on her redundancy money to pay for extended maternity leave for her first baby until the SLC deducted the lump sum as though she was a higher rate tax payer (despite it being marked as redundancy and her having years of low-paid work with that company on their records) and refused to allow her to claim some back. It's that kind of attitude from the Student Loans Company that makes students panic about repayments.

"the article gave the example of a girl who had lost her EMA following the cuts, and as a result could not afford to pay for her studies NOW."

The article quotes her as saying "I didn't know who I could go to in college, and I didn't want to rely on my family." So (a) she didn't know how to use the College support systems and (b) refused to ask her family, which is a whole different matter.
I hate articles like this where they put forward a sob-story and expect us to do a kneejerk empathy for the sobee. I can usually think of a million other things that they could have done to improve their lot.

zero hour contracts are a big bugbear of mine.
being told Tuesday evening that you're scheduled for 2 hours Thurs lunchtime, that's it for the week and you'll have to miss your lab is ridiculous.

Nothing new.
This type of article gets trotted out every few years. I remember reading the same sort of shock/horror story when I was at university and I graduated in 1985.

Nothing new indeed. They do say prostitution is the oldest profession. I do believe people experienced poverty and turned to prostition even in the golden years of the mid eighties.

What whatdoiknow said.

My eldest, when in 6th form and on a full timetable, worked in silver service. One cousin waited tables. Another worked in the local newsagent. None of them felt the need to turn to prostitution and none of them were too tired for the day job.

In the article the girl said she need £70 a month for travel money. Even a the youth rate of NMW that is only 19 hours, or just over 4 hours a week. That's not too hard to fit into studies. Kids have been doing Saturday jobs (so that is 8 hours a week) for years.

Bollocks, if you graduated in 1995. In 1995, there were no fees payable. Every student got a maintenance grant. PLUS you could even claim housing benefit and sign on in the holidays!

So absolutely about as far from comparable with the situation that today's students find themselves in as possible!

But it's always good to blame others and preen at how thrifty you were isn't it?

Sorry - should read '1985'.

Oh, and under 18s earn a lower rate of NMW. That's assuming they can find a job at all, of course, in a time of record youth unemployment, and unemployment generally.

I know two students who have funded themselves via online gambling (blackjack and poker) with one paying for an MSc course with the proceeds.

If you google "student prostitution" and then just about any year, you will get similar stories, for example this one from 2007 and also from 2007 this one from Ireland as it's not just UK where this happens.

The underlying question has to be why the sex trade is seen as an acceptable way to earn additional income.

Erm, didn't I say youth rate of NMW.
Stop emoting and start thinking.

There was a maintenance grant but it barely covered rent in my cheap, unfashionable uni town. Students in bigger, smarter cities would have really struggled. Benefit wasn't availble in 1985 and neither could you sign on in the holidays.... I know, I was that student. Working at some crappy job ... yes, even with 'unsociable hours'.... during the summer and the holidays was how most of us made up the shortfall. Almost everyone left uni in those days with a whopping great overdraft which, unlike today, had to be paid back at full market rates, on time and no deferrals... EMA wasn't even thought of.

It's not about preening about how thrifty anyone is. Just that being a student has never been a life of luxury at any time in the last fifty+ years and students have always done extra work to make up the numbers. If you want to point the finger, how about the metoric rise of lap-dancing clubs looking for staff and things like the drama series 'Diary of a Call Girl' that made sex work seem a fun, acceptable way to make a few quid?