Dear ************* MP,
We are writing to you in your capacity as
the chair of the APPG for ********.
As elected Sabbatical Officers we are
getting in touch to urge you to support us in addressing the cost of living
crisis that is facing our members and students across the country.
As you are aware the cost of living crisis
is affecting people, families, and communities up and down the country. While
public perception may see students as relatively sheltered from the current
economic crisis, we across the higher education sector know this to be false.
We have seen first-hand the impact that this crisis is having on students'
physical and mental wellbeing, as well as its effect on retainment and
outcomes. Every sabbatical officer across the country will be able to tell
different stories of students reaching the
breaking point when it comes to finances.
Across the country students contribute massively to the
economies and communities of our cities. However, right now, students are
feeling disenfranchised and unable to participate in community life.
A recent report from Student Minds highlights that the
rising cost of living is the number one factor affecting student mental health,
while data highlights that 90% of students have reported the crisis having a
detrimental effect on mental health. Up and down the country students are
entering into credit card and payday loan debt as a means to continue.
One in three students are left with £50 or less each
month after paying their rent and universities and Students’ Unions across the
country are setting up food banks on campuses, with the number of students
seeking support from food banks doubling from January to June this year.
Students Unions are also encouraging students to use the heat and light on
campus rather than heating their homes. All of this in one of the richest
countries in the world that boasts some of the best Universities on earth.
We are urging the government to review the current
system around student maintenance loans. The eligibility thresholds for
maintenance loans have been frozen since 2008, meaning students from middle- and
low-income families have been worse and worse off in real terms. These
thresholds must increase in line with inflation if students are to survive and
thrive while undertaking their degrees. In addition, the maintenance loan
levels have increased far below inflation leading to what amounts to a
maintenance loan package that in real terms is at a seven-year low; this must
also be addressed.
I know you will be sympathetic towards the issues that
students are facing, and I would ask that you allow student representatives,
either us or others, to address the APPG for *********** in an attempt to have
an influence on the decisions the government is making.
Yours faithfully,
Signatories
