Being a student is an expensive business, with tuition fees set by the coalition government at £9,000 a year. Once you've finished your degree, you'll be sailing into the real world with a debt of at least £30,000. Not the best start.

In order to combat the astronomic cost of studying, students are finding different ways to get through it. Five percent of students say that they've resorted to sex work to cover costs, others are signing up for medical trials. Trainspotting author Irvine Welsh says that if he went to uni now, he'd have to sell cocaine to help him out financially, the Independent reports.

Speaking at an event this week, Welsh said: "I was able to go to university and get a full grant which was two thirds of my dad’s yearly wages and get all my fees paid and all of that sort of stuff. Now the equivalent to me would be to probably be selling cocaine, I’d buy loads of cocaine and cut it and sell it. No seriously, I wouldn’t want to go through life incurring massive debt to get an uncertain opportunity at the end of it. I think it’s absolutely horrendous what young people now have to put up with."

Welsh believes that students have been forgotten by the coalition government and sees limited opportunities for education in the UK. "I think they’ve basically been completely forgotten and there’s no real opportunity to get a real education, I think there has to be a means to build a proper society so you can get a proper education."

These elections are crucial for the price of education. Labour has promised to cut tuition fees to £6,000 while the Tories will not move it. Why can't it just be free like in Germany?