Students are worried about finding a job after finishing university

Graduate worries about obtaining a job grow along with their debts as tuition fees rise and graduate vacancies fall.

Students are becoming increasingly worried about their prospects of finding a graduate job when they graduate. The biennial Sodexo University Lifestyle Survey, of over 2,000 students and published in association with the Times Higher Education has found that 56% of students are concerned about finding work then they graduate.

In 2010 this figure was 46%, but with the increase in debt many graduates are worried about mountains of debt and no job at the end. Students are even more concerned about what class of degree they will obtain as many companies start to look for graduates with a 2:1 or above. This is in response to the increase in competition for graduate jobs, with as many as 80 applications per graduate vacancy.

One in four students in the survey highlighted that they wouldn’t have gone to university were they to pay the higher tuition fees been introduced later this year. Peter Taylor, head of universities at Sodexo, commented, ‘Students continue to spend less on socialising and are eating less healthily as a result of financial pressures. These trends are likely to increase when students begin paying higher fees.’

Source: Pareto.co.uk, Thursday 22nd March 2012