Law Student 2000: the final questionnaire

The final questionnaire

The Law Student 2000 study followed a cohort of law students through their undergraduate studies, primarily looking at the issues of debt, part time employment and the possible affect of these on career aspirations. Here Mike Cuthbert (University of Northampton) gives an overview of the findings of the final questionnaire.

The findings from the responses of final year students provide an insight into some of dilemmas facing undergraduates as they plan for their final year of study and future careers. How should we respond? Are there regional factors we should take into account? Does it matter what university the student is attending? Although some would say that it is not the role of law schools to merely prepare graduates for the legal profession, should we take it into account that only a minority of our graduates nationally will now do so?

(Note that figures do not always add up to 100% due to rounding, and responses of less than 1% are ignored.)

Person profile

37 questions were asked of students in the final questionnaire and 1,061 questionnaires were returned. The following samples of the responses give an insight of what it is like to be a law undergraduate in the first decade of the 21st century. 20% of the completed questionnaires were from ‘old’ universities. 82% of the total responses were from students on an LLB course and the remainder were on other qualifying law degrees. 54% of the students were living in rented accommodation and 28% were living at home with their parents. 59% identified ‘English’ as their ethnic group and 20% were from various ‘Asian’ ethnic groups. A higher percentage of the ‘Asian’ group of students were living at home with their parents than any other ethnic grouping. Only 32% of those students responding to the questionnaire said that their parents had a university degree. This would seem to give higher validity to the responses to the study, as it includes many students who are the focus of the government and legal profession policies. Overall 62% of the students were paying fees, with the higher figure of 79% being applicable to those students attending an ‘old’ university.

Finances

Only a small number (13%) of the students were receiving any benefit from savings or an investment plan taken out by their parents or grandparents. 61% of all students said that their parents were paying their fees. However, only 40% of all students (and 62% of those attending ‘old’ universities) received regular financial support from their parents. Given that students have to sustain themselves during their studies the details on debt are not surprising.

Debt

88% of the students said that they were in debt. Most of this debt was owed to the Student Loan Company, with 80% of respondents identifying indebtedness. Bank loans were only used by 13% of the students, but overdraft facilities with 55% and credit cards (33%) were more usual.

On their current calculation only 7% thought that they would not be in debt on graduation. 30% thought that their debt would be between £10-14,000 and 27% thought that it would be over £14,000. A more important figure is that given by the students when asked “How many years do you think that it will take for you to pay off your anticipated debt on graduation?” Whereas 16% though that it would take less than four years, 23% though that it would be four to eight years and 37% over eight years.

Expenditure

Is the level of anticipated debt due to the student’s level of expenditure? The level of average monthly expenditure calculated for the students does not seem too high, given the average level of expenditure associated with the age group of 20-22 years of age. The lower level of expenditure was associated with those students living with their parents, as they did not have to pay for accommodation and often food and clothing were also provided.

69% of students spent less than £600 per month on accommodation, food, clothing, transport, social activity, mobile phones and books.

Part time employment

To minimise debt students, especially if they are not receiving any other financial support, have to work. 55% worked during the second year of their degree, with 62% of those working more than 12 hours per week. The percentage of students working in term time and the hours worked per week were higher for students attending ‘new’ universities. However, 84% of all students worked during their summer vacation, with 68% of these working for more than eight weeks. This would seem to be an attempt by some students to reduce the pressure of working during term time as well as to minimise their debt.

In their final year 54% of all students planned to work part time, a similar figure to those who worked in their second year. This would seem to indicate that there is a core of students who have to work whatever the year of their studies. There did, however, seem to be a slight reduction in the number of hours they planned to work.

Conclusion

This brief look at some of the evidence produced by the study reflects some of the pressures facing law students. As they seek to meet the academic challenge of their courses they also have to consider the amount of their debt and the time that it will take to repay. This has a short term effect on them if they consider that the repayment period will be short, but if it affects their potential career path (ie if they cannot afford to go onto the vocational stage of training) then the implications could be long term.

Depending on your personal views, you may consider that the level of expenditure of students causes them to get into more debt or to have to work more part time hours to fund their lifestyle. With the advertising and marketing focus on this age group there is obviously high peer pressure, and other studies have shown that students ‘want a life while at university’. This may be reflected in the level of student expenditure.

Whatever the cause, a majority of students have to work part time in term time, following working in the summer vacation. There is also the problem that with working more hours their academic performance could be threatened in the most important year of their undergraduate studies. The percentage is higher at ‘new’ universities.

The result of these factors is that for some students, the majority identified by this study, are under a great deal of stress. It is this level of stress that affects the level of retention or performance of our students. There does not seem to be a wide regional variation, so students attending universities outside the south east do not seem to have lower debt or work fewer hours. The stress level seems to be about the same!

Last Modified: 6 July 2010