More than 60 per cent of Newcastle students have reported feeling lonely whilst at uni

Newcastle has been reported as the sixth highest area where students reported loneliness while at university.

Unfortunately, uni can be a daunting experience and most students report feeling vulnerable or lonely at times. Be that moving across the country or being thrown into accommodation with people you don’t know and often don’t like, loneliness is one of the major downsides of uni and being surrounded by people doesn’t necessarily equate to feeling content, cared for or comfortable. Loneliness is yet another problem which young people face that just isn’t spoken about enough.

A recent survey by The Tab found that 62.6 per cent of Newcastle students reported feeling lonely while at university. Despite not being within the top three, with Lancaster reporting 70.2 per cent of students having been lonely, this is significantly over half of the student population in the Toon.

Loneliness in Newcastle was marginally higher than in York and Glasgow, at 62.4 per cent respectively. Despite being half an hour down the A1, Durham students reported the lowest amount of loneliness at just 53.5 per cent. Perhaps that’s due to “toxic” drinking culture in Newcastle or with the city being so far north and a long drive away from many places in the south; either way, its an uncomfortable figure to swallow.

So why is it that students are so lonely here and what’s the most effective way to change that? The pandemic no doubt had a significant impact not only on university experiences at the time, but also now, post-pandemic, while we all try to slot back into the lives we previously owned as different people, carrying different baggage.

So, as always, it’s important to remember to be kind.

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