Welsh university towns and cities have lost £203 million during the past 6 months, according to a study by educational consultant, Studee.
The study estimates that Cardiff is the university city that will have lost the second most amount of money after London, due to the number of students who live there.
Studee says that the city is estimated to have lost over £120 million in six months from student spending in the Welsh capital.
According to the study, Wales has lost an estimated £77 million not spent on groceries in university towns and cities, £38.4 million not spent on students going out and socialising and £22 million from Welsh takeaways in these areas.
It has been reported that 13 UK universities ‘could go bust’ as a result of the pandemic, while 80% of students reported that they were struggling financially.
“It’s no wonder the government has been so keen to get students back to university, despite the fact mass movement of young people during a pandemic probably isn’t the wisest course of action,”
said Laura Rettie, Vice President of Studee.
“Students bring a huge amount of money into the areas they choose to study in – money many small towns simply can’t afford to lose.
“Students have recently been blamed for coronavirus outbreaks, but we shouldn’t be using students as scapegoats when it was the government who urged them to get back to campus, with no clear guidance about studying online instead. Sadly, for many university towns across the country the economic pain is likely to be felt for many years to come.”
To read the full report, click here: https://studee.com/discover/uk-university-town-losses-pandemic/
