Poor students hit hardest

INEQUALITIES in student funding are hitting those from the poorest backgrounds and forcing more students into part-time jobs, according to a survey commissioned today by the Department for Education and Employment.

Students who are single parents and those from poorer backgrounds are significantly worse off than the average student. Students from social classes D and E owed on average Pounds 2,593 more than those from class A. The evidence sits uneasily alongside Government policy to increase participation by those from non-traditional learning backgrounds.