4.2

LIVING CONDITIONS   INCOME, EXPENDITURE, TIME 

ALLOCATION 

4.2.1 Income

Full time undergraduate students derived their income from three main

categories; their family, earnings from employment and different types of

grants, assistance or loans.  The highest amount of average monthly income

for students was  301 from paid employment,  266 from parents and  224

from State grants (Table 2). Female students received on average a higher

amount of income from family and males generated a higher amount from

work. Two thirds (66%) of all students received income from family, over half

(58%) raised it from working and one quarter (26%) received local authority

or state grants. Social welfare, bank loans and fellowships/scholarships were

a source of income for a minority of students, 6%, 5% and 4% respectively.

Table 2: Average Monthly Income of Students by gender

Monthly income from

Males

Females

Total

N     (%)

Employment

1878 (58%)

321

289

301*

Family

2161 (66%)

250

276

266*

State Grants

861 (26%)

216

228

224

Bank Loan

166

(5%)

203

177

188

Scholarships

115

(4%)

144

179

167

Social welfare

193

(6%)

135

147

144

*significant between gender (p<.01)

4.2.2.  Expenditure

The single largest monthly expenditure for students was on accommodation

averaging  273 per month, with females paying more for accommodation

than males (Table 3). The next two highest expenditure items were on

alcohol ( 110) and food ( 109) with males spending higher amounts on

these items than females. Male students also spent more on entertainment

and female students spent a greater amount on clothing and toiletries.  A

quarter of students spent on average  60 on tobacco per month and  27

on medical expenses.  A very small number (2%) of students paid on

average  54 per month for grinds.  Three quarters of all students spent

 33 per month on study books and materials, while 85% of students spend

 110 on alcohol and  52 on entertainment per month.

20