Chichester economy loses £10.5 million as pandemic 'keeps students away', study suggests

Research done by Studee, a university information website, show that the city has suffered the loss of the money as students due to the pandemic 'keeping students away' with students moving off campus to live with their families when the country first went into lockdown in March.

The study sugguests that over the past six months, take-aways lost out on a staggering £1.5 million, while £1.7 million was not spent on socialising, £1.4 million lost on transport, £3.8 million not spent on groceries and £1 million not spent on buying clothes.

It estimated the total loss to the UK economy at £3.5 billion.

Laura Rettie, vice president of Studee, said: “It’s no wonder the government has been so keen to get students back to university, despite the fact mass movement of young people during a pandemic probably isn’t the wisest course of action. Students bring a huge amount of money into the areas they choose to study in - money many small towns simply can’t afford to lose.

“Students have recently been blamed for coronavirus outbreaks, but we shouldn’t be using students as scapegoats when it was the government who urged them to get back to campus, with no clear guidance about studying online instead. Sadly for many university towns across the country the economic pain is likely to be felt for many years to come.”

You find Studee's full findings here: studee.com/discover/uk-university-town-losses-pandemic