I don't smoke, drink and do not go out very often - due to finances mainly - and I am already hundreds of pounds into my overdraft and it will most likely be this way unless I can find some work over the Easter and summer holidays.

If I did drink and/or smoke I'd hate to see where I'd be now. Mind you, I only have to look at some of my friends to see what it would be like.

I am from what the government would think of as a low income family. My parents, a church pastor and a post office worker, between them do not earn enough to help with costs at university.

While I get the maximum loan most of this is taken up with rent - Exeter Uni is a great place but the rent for university accommodation is very high.

Going up

Next year, Domestic Services here at Exeter have put up our rent, damage deposits, etc., at above-inflation rates.

This will result in my having to pay about an extra �150. While I think that the loan goes up to match inflation the increase will not cover my own cost increases.

Finding work in the holidays is always difficult for me as I live in a small village in West Sussex which is served by a bus in either direction once an hour.

The buses do not run late enough or early enough for me to get anywhere particularly useful (isn't public transport another of the government's specialties?).

Last summer I got a job with a building contractor, which worked only because the boss of the company lived in the same village as me and could take me in to work everyday.

Generous

I have to work this Easter and the summer just so I can have some money to eat and see me through the rest of this year and next year, my final year - which I'd have liked to spend just studying, but it doesn't look good.

Without the extreme generosity of my old boss last summer I would probably have had to leave university.

And as for some decent work experience to put on my CV, there isn't much chance of that.

If I can earn enough over Easter I'm hoping to take a couple of weeks - but no more - in the summer holiday to work at a planetarium near me on a voluntary basis, but that will be the extent of (relevant) work experience for the length of my course.

Oh, and did I mention I need to resit two exams at the end of August? No, well, I'll be studying for them in the summer as well, in between all the work. It's nice to get a break from everything every now and again.

Timely

Students are worse off than people on benefits. Financially the figures are there, however much the government tries to avert people's attention from it.

Students are also putting in a heck of a lot of work as well. It's always struck me how the government gives money to people not in work, then only gives students loans that are worth less than benefits when they are working hard.

While we must help and support those out of work, we must also not be hypocritical and ignore other people who need help. The majority of students are not layabouts as far as I can see - well physics students aren't, at least!

It is all well and good the government saying that we are more likely to earn more when we graduate (provided financial pressures allow us to complete our courses), but it is now that we need the help the most, not when we've graduated.

A degree might be worth it in the end, but at the moment, from the perspective of a student, that hardly seems possible.

Just for once, it would be nice to feel like we're worth something and valued for what we're doing.