Case studies: Making ends meet is a struggle even with loans

Published on Sunday 9 August 2009 21:59

STEVIE WISE, 23, is going into the fourth year of a religious studies degree at Edinburgh University and worries about how she is going to make ends meet this year.

She has struggled to get the level of overdraft she needs to sustain her living costs, and her credit card limit was reduced because she missed a payment by 30p.

Ms Wise depends on her two credit cards and bank overdraft to get by.

Over the summer she struggled to find a full-time job meaning she is now going to have to work part-time, which she had hoped to avoid in her final year.

As a last resort she has been forced to borrow money from friends and family.

"I've already had to drop out once for financial reasons, and it's a real worry for me.

"I broke my foot in October 2007 and I couldn't work, which meant my money troubles were horrendous, even worse than now, so I just had to cut my losses and go home."

And she says she is not alone in her money worries.

She said: "It's unbelievable what Scottish students are given to live off, I don't think people realise. We are just getting in more and more debt. Something really, really needs to be done."

Borrowed time

After a HNC in legal services at Stevenson College earlier this year CLAIRE RACKLEY is going to study law at Edinburgh University next month.

She has borrowed 3,000 on her credit card, has a 500 overdraft plus a student loan. The 23-year-old uses the commercial loans to pay rent, food, travel costs and phone bills, and relies on her student loan to meet interest payments.

As well as full-time study, she works 16 hours a week in a bank to try to pay off some of her spiralling debts.

"I do worry about money constantly," she said.

"The thing I most look forward to is getting my student loan through so I can stop using the credit card, but the minimum repayments eat up my income and I end up spending again.

"Most of my friends are in exactly the same boat.

"Over the summer things get worse and worse, because I don't have my student loan coming in, but I still need to pay the rent."

Uncleared debt

After being forced to drop out from a course at Napier University seven years ago because of financial hardship, CHRIS LUBY is starting his first year of an HND in photography at Stevenson College this year.

He has still not cleared his previous debts, which include student loan debt, debt to family and friends and commercial debt.

A substantial bail-out from his parents is allowing him to start his new course, but he still worries about how much commercial debt he still has, and how he will fund himself through this course.

Family fears

After a HNC in business management at Banff and Buchan College, REBECCA THOMSON is moving on to the HND course but worries about her debt.

She has two children, her partner has recently lost his job and everything is much more expensive since the economic downturn.

She worries about how the family is going to make it through the year.