Palatinate Wednesday 4th October 2017 | No. 797
Where art thou, Art? Visual Arts takes you on a tour of the North East’s eye-pleasers
www.palatinate.org.uk | FREE
Sport interviews the Premier League’s all-time top scorer...
Alan Shearer Cheap booze boosts Durham’s student reputation Jack Reed Deputy News Editor
Wildlife photographer and Durham alumnus Sue Flood captures the scene in Antarctica. Her exclusive interview with Profile is on page 12. (©Sue Flood Photography)
Maintenance Loan ‘leaves average student over £200 a month short’
Annual Student Money Survey reveals some parents are expected to make up £3,000+ annual shortfall in living costs Sophie Gregory News Editor The annual Student Money Survey has found the student loan can leave students up to £221 short every month after polling 2,216 students. The nationwide survey, run by Save the Student, reports that students need an average of £821 to cover monthly spending, with rent alone averaging £394 nationally.
The average Maintenance Loan payment – for students studying away from home and outside London, with a household income of £35,000 – is, however, £600 per month, leaving a shortfall of £221 every month. The Maintenance Loan is means-tested and parents are expected to subsidise their children. One third of students, however, believe that their parents do not give adequate financial support or
report feeling guilty for asking for help. Nonetheless, parents are still turned to in times of extreme hardship, with 83% of students relying on their parents for financial support during a crisis. The Parental Contributions Calculator shows parents earning £35,000 are expected to contribute £1,211 each year for those living outside of London and away from home. For a household in-
come of £50,000, the contribution rises to £3,027. As Palatinate reported online in August, Durham students are ranked among the top universities for parental support, but almost a third of students nationwide assert they do not receive enough financial aid from their parents. When asked how Durham University is supporting those who may need financial Continued on page four
Durham has been revealed as one of the cheapest places in the UK to buy a pint of beer, according to new research. The average price of a beer in Durham is £2.10, making it the third cheapest place in the UK for a pint. Only Plymouth and Croydon offer cheaper pints than Durham, with the average price a mere £1.99 in both places. In contrast, many other leading university locations offer much more expensive pints, with beer costing on average £4.00 in Oxford and £3.63 in Cambridge respectively. Online mortgage advisor ‘Is the Grass Greener?’, which commissioned the research, offer an online tool which enables users to compare UK cities and/or London boroughs on a number of different factors, including: house price, first-time buyer price, crime rate, safety index, taxi fare price, fuel price and pint price. Compared to Newcastle, the largest city close to Durham, there is a £1 difference in the average cost of a pint, with beer priced at £3.10 in the city. This information could prove telling for A Level students applying to university for next year, since pint prices are a key indicator of lifestyle costs at prospective universities. Speaking of which...
Join us at our 2017 Welcome Drinks, in the SU’s Riverside Bar at 19.30 on Thursday 12th October – the wine, in this case, is free!