Study finds 63% of students work part-time

The average cost of living for a third-level student in Ireland is €151 per week, according to a survey published today.

The study also finds students spend more than €6,000 each academic year on accommodation, travel, groceries and socialising.

Some 79 per cent get financial help from their parents, while 63 per cent work part-time, the survey carried out by Ulster Bank said.

Most students interviewed for the survey said they planned to work this summer, with 86 per cent using the money earned to live in the coming academic year.

Over the 40-week academic year students spend an average of €6,040. The average cost of living per week was higher in Dublin (€153) than outside Dublin (€149).

Accommodation accounted for 25 per cent of overall spend, costing an average of €1,510 per academic year.

Some 68 per cent of third level students planned to remain in Ireland and work for the summer; 28 per cent planned to travel abroad to work.

The survey found 19 per cent of students have a bank loan but that students in Dublin are almost five times more likely to have one.