Two out of five students in Scotland are suffering from mental health problems because of financial pressures, a survey suggests.
Scottish undergraduates reported the highest levels of depressive illnesses linked to money anywhere in the UK, according to the study by Future Finance, a company that provides private student loans.
The survey of 2,000 students also found that many had considered taking part in medical research or sex work to help to fund their studies.
The need to hold down a part-time job to make ends meet was also found to be a source of stress, with more than a third of students saying that it affected their wellbeing.
Despite not being charged tuition fees, the poorest students in Scotland take out nearly £6,000 of loans a year to fund their living costs. At the same time, the amount handed out in grants by the Scottish government fell to less than £40 million last year, compared with £65.4 million in 2005-06.
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The National Union of Students has called for better financial support to combat Scotland’s 8 per cent dropout rate in higher education, which is the worst in the UK.
Vonnie Sandlan, president of NUS Scotland, said that the figures should prompt the new Scottish government to improve financial support for students. “These figures are deeply concerning, but will come as no surprise to those who have first-hand experience of the financial challenges and stresses that students face,” she said.
Clare Stafford, who manages the Students Against Depression website run by the Charlie Waller Trust, a mental health charity, said: “Excessive worrying about debt can provide fertile ground for depression for many students.”
She added that most universities and colleges provided financial advisers to help students to find their way through the maze of funding, and many provided information and resources to help with money and debt management.
Alice Palmer, a student who sought help through the charity, said that there was a lack of understanding of depression in the higher education sector. “Depression is becoming an undeniably recurring topic and it doesn’t seem to be going away, nor do we seem to find it any easier to talk about,” she said.
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Eilidh McTavish, a third-year law student at Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen, said that juggling money could have an impact on study.
“It’s very hard to get a balance of studies and part-time work,” she said. “It can be very hard to choose if we’d rather work more hours or spend more hours in the library. It’s genuinely one or the other.”