Opening for HK students as UK crisis may fuel dropout surge

Hong Kong students could capitalize on the looming dropouts at top universities in Britain, after a recent survey found that one in five students at Russell Group universities are considering to drop out due to the cost of living crisis.

In the largest study of its kind, research by the Russell Group Students' Unions - which represents 24 of Britain's most elite higher education institutions, including Oxbridge and University College London - laid bare the devastating impact that soaring prices are having on all but the richest students.

The survey of more than 8,500 students, carried out in the first two months of the year, found that the proportion of students who were considering dropping out rose to more than three in 10 among the most socioeconomically disadvantaged.

Among those most likely to leave were students from marginalized and disadvantaged backgrounds and disabled and part-time students.

Dani Bradford, policy and research manager at Students' Union UCL, who led the research, said: "We're running a risk where our university system is only open to the most privileged."

But education consultants in Hong Kong said the travesty of students having to drop out of university due to rising living costs is not a new phenomenon.

Founder of Britannia StudyLink Samuel Chan Sze-ming told The Standard that more Hong Kong students could get into these top UK universities in case there is a wave of locals dropping out.

"It could slightly help Hong Kong students, in the short term," Chan said, adding that the UK is facing economic difficulties as a result of Covid and the energy crisis.

"Those [locals] who want to get a degree aren't able to get one," he said. "So [the universities] will look to recruit more overseas students."

More than half of those surveyed, according to The Guardian, said their academic performance had suffered as a result of the cost of living crisis. Students reported having to take on additional paid work to cover costs, skipping lectures because they couldn't afford travel fares, and having concentration issues caused by poor nourishment and financial stress.

And a quarter of respondents are regularly going without food and other essentials, The Observer revealed.

Students reported feeling suicidal, suffering from severe anxiety and loneliness. Some said their families were not turning on the heating at home so that they could eat.

"It's almost been normalized, the suffering of students," said Bradford, adding that many are at risk of eviction and not eating for several days.

Tim Bradshaw, the Russell Group's chief executive, condemned the "worrying" findings, which he expected to worsen, and called for the government to take action in the UK's budget this Wednesday by addressing "flaws in the maintenance loans system" and raising loans in line with inflation since 2020/21.

The group also called on the government to consider reintroducing maintenance grants for the most disadvantaged students and to review the parental threshold for maximum loan support, which has been frozen since 2008.