‘I once missed four weeks of one module’: the UK

Four students at English universities describe how their need for paid work has affected their studies, sleep, health and wellbeing

More than half of UK students working long hours in paid jobs

Ahead of her January deadlines, Megan Allen, a second-year student, spent December and part of November working full-time in a bar in Leeds. Allen, 19, and studying sociology at Leeds Beckett University, knew her coursework was suffering as she clocked up 40 hours a week in the bar, but needed the money. “I actually have to work – when the opportunity comes up, I can’t say no,” she said. “I definitely didn’t put enough into the things that I handed in, it wasn’t my best work at all.”

After the Christmas rush, Allen went back to working her normal hours – 20 hours a week on top of her full-time degree. Working three to four shifts weekly has been tough: “I don’t have enough time. My days off from work are not off, because I’m doing uni work – I’ve got no time to myself at all.” Allen, who receives the minimum maintenance loan, said: “I don’t get regular money from my family – I’ll get some support from my mum if I really need it, but I hate asking.”