Student experiences of financial support in summer 2021: insights
Report to present the results of a quantitative online survey exploring experiences of financial support in summer 2021 of Higher Education (HE) and Further Education (FE) students studying at universities and colleges in Scotland.
Annex B: Further analysis of responses to this survey by level of study (HE and FE)
| College student respondents | University student respondents | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FE | HE | Degree | Postgraduate | ||
| Yes | More than during term time | 51% | 70% | 63% | 38% |
| Same amount as during term time | 15% | 12% | 9% | 17% | |
| Less than during term time | 4% | 7% | 5% | 5% | |
| No | 13% | 7% | 16% | 26% | |
| Prefer not to say | 7% | 2% | 2% | 8% | |
| Not applicable | 10% | 3% | 5% | 6% | |
| Total | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | |
Notes: for a total of 754 and a missing response count, i.e. total number of missing respondents to this question = 1.
Percentages have been rounded to the nearest whole.
Question: did you struggle with financial support / income over the summer break, i.e. you struggled to pay your rent and / or bills?
| College student respondents | University student respondents | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FE | HE | Degree | Postgraduate | ||
| Yes | For all of the break | 20% | 24% | 32% | 26% |
| For most of the break | 4% | 10% | 12% | 6% | |
| For some of the break | 10% | 13% | 17% | 10% | |
| Not in paid employment | 57% | 52% | 38% | 49% | |
| Prefer not to say | 9% | 1% | 2% | 9% | |
| Total | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | |
Notes: for a total of 753 and a missing response count, i.e. total number of missing respondents to this question = 2.
Percentages have been rounded to the nearest whole.
Question: are you / have you been in paid employment over the summer 2021 break?
| College student respondents | University student respondents | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FE | HE | Degree | Postgraduate | |
| Lack of employment opportunities | 35% | 36% | 46% | 44% |
| Reduced working hours | 7% | 15% | 19% | 10% |
| I was made redundant | 4% | 7% | 1% | 5% |
| I have caring responsibilities | 23% | 18% | 19% | 6% |
| My personal circumstances affected my ability to work, e.g. illness, shielding | 28% | 30% | 29% | 29% |
| I did not want to work more than part of the break | 2% | 7% | 13% | 8% |
| Prefer not to say | 8% | 4% | 3% | 10% |
| Other | 17% | 10% | 14% | 23% |
Notes: this question was only shown to 551 participants. This corresponds to participants that answered the previous question as either not being employed or only being employed during part of the summer of 2021.
Missing response count, i.e. total number of missing respondents to this question = 14.
Percentages have been rounded to the nearest whole.
No total is provided since participants could select more than one option.
No text box was given for the 'other' option.
Question: if you were only employed for part of the summer 2021 break or not employed at all over the break, what were the reason(s) for this? (please select all options that apply to you).
| College student respondents | University student respondents | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FE | HE | Degree | Postgraduate | ||
| Yes | Same amount | 53% | 68% | 62% | 51% |
| At a reduced amount | 0% | 3% | 3% | 7% | |
| At an increased amount | 2% | 1% | 2% | 3% | |
| To secure my accommodation for term time / next academic year | 0% | 0% | 3% | 13% | |
| No | 33% | 24% | 27% | 20% | |
| Prefer not to say | 13% | 3% | 3% | 6% | |
| Total | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | |
Notes: for a total of 754 and a missing response count, i.e. total number of missing respondents to this question = 1.
Percentages have been rounded to the nearest whole.
Question: did you pay rent / accommodation costs over the summer 2021 break? (Please select all options that apply to you).
| College student respondents | University student respondents | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FE | HE | Degree | Postgraduate | |
| Yes | 55% | 77% | 67% | 54% |
| No | 28% | 18% | 28% | 39% |
| Prefer not to say | 17% | 5% | 5% | 7% |
| Total | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% |
Notes: for a total of 751 and a missing response count, i.e. total number of missing respondents to this question = 4.
Percentages have been rounded to the nearest whole.
Question: did you experience financial hardship over the summer 2021 break, i.e. you struggled to pay your rent and / or bills and were unable to reduce your expenditure?
| College student respondents | University student respondents | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FE | HE | Degree | Postgraduate | ||
| Yes | And received support once | 9% | 13% | 12% | 6% |
| And received support multiple times | 6% | 1% | 3% | 0% | |
| But my application was rejected | 7% | 11% | 11% | 15% | |
| No | 69% | 71% | 69% | 75% | |
| Prefer not to say | 10% | 4% | 5% | 4% | |
| Total | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | |
Notes: this question was shown to 541 participants that answered the previous question with "yes" (N=475) or "prefer not to say" (N= 66). Additionally, 4 missing respondents from the previous question responded to the present question. Missing response count, i.e. total number of missing respondents to this question = 1. Percentages have been rounded to the nearest whole.
Question: did you apply for discretionary hardship support (financial) from your college, university or education provider over the summer break?
Table A7: Experience of application process
| College student respondents | University student respondents | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FE | HE | Degree | Postgraduate | |
| I found the application process straight forward | 39% | 40% | 38% | 15% |
| I found the application process to be complicated | 23% | 35% | 31% | 46% |
| I was asked for a reasonable amount of evidence to support my application | 16% | 20% | 27% | 15% |
| I was asked for too much additional information / evidence to support my application | 11% | 25% | 32% | 38% |
| My application was processed within a reasonable amount of time | 9% | 15% | 26% | 15% |
| My application took too long to be processed | 14% | 30% | 23% | 23% |
| I feel indifferent about the application process | 20% | 5% | 10% | 0% |
Notes: this question was only shown to 163 participants that answered the previous question with "yes" or "prefer not to say". Missing response count, i.e. total number of missing respondents to this question = 8. Percentages have been rounded to the nearest whole.
No total is provided since participants could select more than one option.
Question: if you were experiencing financial hardship over summer and applied for discretionary / hardship support from your college, university or education provider, what was your experience of the application process? (please select all options that apply to you).
| College student respondents | University student respondents | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FE | HE | Degree | Postgraduate | |
| The application process is too complicated | 3% | 4% | 16% | 15% |
| The application process takes too long | 3% | 2% | 7% | 5% |
| I did not think my application would be successful | 26% | 15% | 43% | 30% |
| I felt others were in more need of this support than me | 16% | 21% | 32% | 13% |
| I did not feel comfortable applying to my institution for this support | 5% | 13% | 22% | 18% |
| I was not aware this type of support was available | 60% | 55% | 40% | 43% |
| I received financial support from friends or family | 9% | 11% | 20% | 23% |
| I used other forms of lending such as credit card or loan | 8% | 13% | 13% | 13% |
| I do not know – I haven't really thought about it | 8% | 13% | 9% | 10% |
| Prefer not to say | 2% | 4% | 1% | 3% |
| Other reasons – please specify | 4% | 9% | 6% | 10% |
Notes: this question was only shown to 381 participants that answered the question in Table A6 with "no". Missing response count, i.e. total number of missing respondents to this question = 1.
Percentages have been rounded to the nearest whole.
No total is provided since participants could select more than one option.
Question: if you were experiencing financial hardship over summer but did not apply for discretionary / hardship support, what prevented you? (Please select all options that apply to you).
Table A9: Access to social security benefits and reasons for applying
| College student respondents | University student respondents | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FE | HE | Degree | Postgraduate | ||
| Yes | As my course had already completed | 6% | 9% | 2% | 2% |
| I was studying whilst receiving benefits | 16% | 15% | 7% | 8% | |
| No | Not eligible for benefits | 29% | 41% | 62% | 46% |
| Eligible but did not apply for benefits | 9% | 4% | 7% | 8% | |
| Do not know | 33% | 25% | 20% | 28% | |
| Prefer not to say | 7% | 5% | 2% | 7% | |
| Total | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | |
Notes: for a total of 750 and a missing response count, i.e. total number of missing respondents to this question = 5.
Percentages have been rounded to the nearest whole.
Question: were you able to access financial support from social security benefits for living costs over the summer months? (i.e. the months you were not in receipt of student financial support)?
Contact
Email: FHEstatistics@gov.scot
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