In the present economic climate students and recent graduates are having to fight to keep themselves within the limits of their overdraft.

Securing additional loans to help deal with debt is becoming more of a challenge, and rising inflation means that student loan repayments are only going to increase further. For students the outlook is bleak and is going to remain that way for at least the next year or so.

In the face of looming recession, graduates can’t expect the government to come to their aid. Affordable homes and high-paying jobs are going to be hard to come by. But there’s no need to despair.

Here’s a survival guide for the hard times ahead, which will allow you not just to battle your way through a recession, but even to find the odd reason for cheer amongst all the doom and gloom.

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Finding a home

The doom and the gloom

•Banks are now unwilling to provide mortgages without a firm deposit but levels of student debt often prevents graduates from saving up for one. The number of new mortgages approved by banks is at its lowest point for almost a decade.

Reasons for cheer

•According to the Nationwide Building Society, the average house price has fallen by almost 10 per cent in the last year to £170,000 and you can expect prices to fall further for the next few months at least.

•The Government has recently announced a Rent First, Buy Later scheme to encourage more young house-buyers to rent a property. The scheme enables any household earning £60,000 or less to rent a property at 80% or less of the market rate for up to three years. Full details of the plan can be found on the government website .

Ways to survive

•Look to rent a place, but do your research with regard to the location. There are some areas (the city centres of Manchester and Leeds, for example) where the prices of rented accommodation have stayed low or even fallen in the last year or so.

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