It’s difficult to write a blog without including some comment about the credit crunch. We’ve been following the developments along with everyone else but for us we have been thinking about how students will be impacted too.

So this week it came as no surprise to us to hear some of the hardest facts about the credit crunch in the headlines – ‘students will be disproportionately affected by the financial downturn’. We’ve believed this could be the case for some time. However, media coverage has focused on the employed. It’s unsurprising with the bottom falling out of the mortgage market and unemployment on the rise that primary concern has been for those losing jobs and not being able to meet mortgage payments.

However, sitting one step down on the ladder are students who rely on employed parents as their support structure. The effect on rising unemployment stats will be equally important to those who’ve not yet got on the first rung of the career ladder. When the parental financial support falls away then students have to fend for themselves. Easy, you might think, stop drinking down the student union and get a job. It’s just that there aren’t any. Summer jobs and part-time work are drying up quicker than rain in the Sahara.

There are some that might say that the credit crunch is tough for many people and they are right. The difference for a student is that they are approaching the credit crunch with roughly £20K debt already accrued just for the privilege of studying to ensure a brighter future. The future will be far from bright if they can’t find jobs to start and pay off those debts.
So what is the response? We also heard about universities considering increasing the tuition fees for our beleaguered students. Hoorah! Let’s knock our poor students for a bit more.
Studentswapshop was set up to help students manage on low funds providing an alternative way to get the things they need, books, household items and so on. The idea is to save money by swapping or buying secondhand off other UK students. Seems like we didn’t launch it a minute too soon.

£20K of debt (excluding mortgages) in the working world has more often than not been built up through frivolous, must have, greed purchasing – now you can’t really tar students with that same brush – or can you?

The question is are students ready to swap and buy secondhand books or is the brand new/must have culture not just the curse of the salaried population?