Get Out

It had been revealed that third year students are going out more than freshers.

A recent survey has found that since the three-fold rise in fees, first year students are averaging 1.23 days out a week, less than the 1.57 average for final year students. With the opposite usually presumed to be true, these surprising numbers suggest a monetary reaction to the higher cost of university.

Spending on nights out has also dropped to an average of £19 a week. This is considerably lower than figures from a similar survey by the NUS that last year revealed students spent around £28 a week on going out.

Yoshika Colwell, a first year York student studying TFTV said: “We still go out but we save money by pre-drinking. It’s impossible to go out as much as we want to, because we are spending so much money on fees.”

Camilla Byles, second year History of Art and English student spoke to Vision: “Although work load has increased, my friends and I still try and go out as much as we can.

“It is still an important part of University life and I feel lucky to have missed the bump in fees. I definitely would not be able to afford to do nearly as much if I was paying triple what I am now.”

This increase in financial awareness is reflected in the survey finding that a third of an average student’s budget for a night out is spent on cheap alcohol, before leaving the house.“This news does not necessarily mean that students are drinking less”, said Owen Burek, founder of Save the Student. “It may be that the typical student is becoming more price sensitive to pennies spent at the bar”.

“It’s clear that students are responding to the pressures of having to save and budget.”

It remains to be seen whether this trend is here to stay, or if it is a temporary response.