Teena Varsani
Our time spent at university is often described as the best years of one's life with endless fun and partying. But, all of this is overshadowed by the incredible financial debt incurred as a student.
Living as an undergraduate is becoming increasingly difficult with even less support from the government than ever before. The outrageous increase in tuition fees means that once a person has left university he or she is left with at least a £9,000 debt, which rises each year. On top of this, there is a lack of financial support for students with regard to travel costs.
On average £100 a month is spent on travel for a student commuting to and from university, which amounts to £1,200 a year. This is after the discount a student receives as an over 18-year-old full time student.
Currently under 18s in full time education get free bus and tram travel, while those who are already suffering from many financial burdens only get a mere 30 per cent discount. Trying to secure a good future by obtaining a degree seems to be getting harder and those young people who do come out of university with a degree are then left with years of paying back the debts they built up.
Thomas L. Blair is a sociologist and political blogger on the Chronicleworld 'for creative renewal in Black Britain and Afro-Europe'. His work is honoured in the British Library's archive of "social, historic and culturally significant web-based material from the UK domain". He won top prize in the blogging competition on The-Latest.
Sumantra Maitra is a freelance journalist from Mumbai, India. He is a correspondent for All Sports magazine, and a foreign affairs blogger for the Washington Examiner. He has written articles for news website Merinews.com and other regional publications. Sumantra runs a blog at DailyWorldWatch.wordpress.com. He provided exclusive eyewitness reports for The-Latest on the Mumbai bombings of 2008.
Brian Usher is photography consultant for The-Latest.Com. He is a highly experienced editorial and commercial photographer whose work has been published throughout the world, appearing in many well known magazines and newspapers. Brian has featured in several books and has been a writer for the Royal Photographic Society magazine.
Heidi Kingstone has spent time in Afghanistan reporting for a number of publications. Her work has appeared in the Financial Times, The Spectator, The Sunday Times and other international journals. She has also reported from places like Iraq, Rwanda, Lebanon, Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Kenya. Heidi is The-Latest's Editor at large.
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