The credit crunch is pushing increasing numbers of students to rethink both their finances and even the future of their education.

A Kent student union has expressed concerns that the rising cost of living hitting people of all ages across the UK is putting extra pressure on undergraduates to take on extra jobs and miss out on parts of student life.

Tom Christian, president of the Kent University's students' union, said: "Students are increasingly feeling the bite of the credit crunch. More and more are turning to our financial support service in order to meet accommodation costs, let alone basic day-to-day expenses.

"Also, parents are finding it harder to support their children forcing more students into part-time work to the detriment of their studies."

~ Listen: Tom Christian speaks to kmfm >>>

The most recent Student Living Index, examining student spending habits and how they offset living and accommodation expenses, showed that nearly half of UK students (around 750,000) will be in part-time employment by the start of the 2008/09 term.

Undergraduates will spend £10.8billion in the next academic year, compared to £10.3billion in 2007.

With the cost of living rising, many undergraduates are also opting to live at home during term-time rather than in halls of residence.

Canterbury Christ Church University said that only 16.5 per cent of its first year students studying at this year will be living on site, compared to 17 per cent in 2007.

The added pressure of economizing on top of their studies may end up dissuading people of lesser means from going into higher education altogether.

He added: "If the trends continue as we expect they will, we could see many of these students that are already studying, dropping out."