Students ‘selling clothes to pay rent’

Rowan Maddock, 19, is going into the second year of her English Literature and Creative Writing course at Cardiff University – but she’s worried she cannot afford to live in her new student house.

She’s been selling her own clothes on apps and online to raise money for rent, after being unable to find a job during the pandemic.

“I didn’t think that I’d ever have to sell belongings that I actually like and don’t want to get rid of but I’m having to make ends meet,” she says.

Despite applying for about 60 jobs in Cardiff and her home town of Swindon to help supplement her student loan and pay living costs, Rowan says many companies never replied to her.

“Everyone talks about being a ‘broke student’,” she says. “So I was expecting there to be times where things would be tight, but I wasn’t expecting to be put in a position where I physically can’t make ends meet.”

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