David Beaumont, 21
‘I’d thought that a final year economics student at the LSE would get a job easily. But I’ve found it impossible to get even an unpaid internship. My plan after graduation is to get out: to travel, funded by a low-paid job. Getting on the career ladder at this stage seems a lost cause. It feels like I have had to delay my life.’
Jessica Dickinson, 24
‘I’m stuck in an unhappy relationship because I simply cannot afford to move out of the flat I share with my boyfriend. There doesn’t seem to be a market for degrees in government studies. The outlook is incredibly depressing and I can’t really see things improving.’
Edward Gibson, 21
‘I think that my generation has been given a healthy dose of reality. Before people presumed that their degrees were the key to the futures they felt they were entitled to. There was an arrogance to that, which the recession has corrected.’
Sean McGuiness, 23
‘I feel anger towards the politicians who have let national debt spiral out of control while living extravagant lives themselves. We will have to work to pay for it until we are practically in our graves.’
Niall Quinn, 21
‘The recession affects your night out. We cannot afford wine in restaurants, but buy cheap vodka from a discount supermarket. People are drowning their sorrows as their career prospects plummet. Ours is not a lazy generation. It’s desperate and despondent.’
Emerald Fennell, 23
‘There is nothing more frightening than leaving university in the midst of a recession, but I honestly believe it may well be the making of our generation. We have been forced to become more independent and industrious. A lot of us have struck out by ourselves. It’s frightening not knowing what lies ahead, but it is also exciting because by losing that security we have also gained an enormous amount of possibility. At least, I hope this is true. Otherwise we’re all screwed.’
Laura Johnson, 20
‘I haven’t really felt the effects of the recession as a university student because I rely on my loan which is fairly substantial. However as I graduate this year reality is suddenly dawning on me. I will owe over £30,000 and have little prospects of paying that back in the near future.’