Hard-up students on Scottish campuses are being increasingly targeted by loan sharks as bank credit dries up.

The National Union of Students in Scotland is receiving reports that unscrupulous lenders are gaining a foothold across the country. Two weeks ago, The Scotsman revealed universities are running out of hardship cash to give to students in dire financial straits.

University principals said part-time jobs were drying up and parents were struggling to help their children as they also found themselves in financial woe. Now, "private lenders" are taking advantage of the harsh climate.

A new generation of parents is turning into property-owning landlords to help their teenage school leavers through university.

The trend to buy them a student house to share with pals and 'live cheap' is burning the fingers of many amateur landlords who are "biting off more than they can chew" says the Residential Landlords Association (RLA).

This year’s race to be number one in the rankings of The Times Top 100 Graduate Employers has been the closest since the league table was first published in 1999. More than 15,000 students who graduated from university this summer took part in the poll to find Britain’s most sought-after graduate employers, and yet just seven votes separate the top two organisations.

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If you've sat at home watching a soap thinking "I can do better than that" or always wanted to be one of the young writers on Skins, then now is your chance to get your foot in the door.

As part of the Media Guardian's International Television Festival in Edinburgh, people over 18 can apply to take part in several days of free television masterclasses and lectures. Successful applicants will be able to attend lectures by leading TV personalities, with previous speakers at The Network being as diverse as legendary newsreader Sir Trevor McDonald and Russell T Davies, writer of the new Doctor Who.

Teenage cook Sam Stern dishes out tips and recipes to help students survive their first term.

THE STRATEGY

Savvy planning and smart shopping are the key to good cooking on a budget. So save yourself cash, time and grief by getting a strategy.

Here are some top tips – ways to make the most of every meal without emptying your bank account...

Uncertainty in the jobs market is prompting more Scots to apply to higher education, universities said yesterday.

New figures show there has been a 5% rise in the number of Scots applying for a university place, with school-leavers and mature entrants both showing increases of 3.5% and 12% respectively.

The figures, from the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (Ucas), also show the number of international student applications continues to increase, with a 14% rise.

A tougher jobs market will make this one of the worst years to graduate for two decades, suggests a survey of leading employers.

The survey of 100 firms by High Fliers Research found that recruitment targets had been cut by 17% for this year.

The financial sector in particular had been hit by the economic downturn, with 47% fewer graduate entry jobs.

"Swinging cuts" in recruitment after years of a strong jobs market, makes this year a bad time to graduate.

Students graduating this year will face the toughest employment market in two decades, new figures reveal.

Due to the economic downturn, leading graduate employers in the UK have been forced to reduce their recruitment targets by 17%. The initial and more optimistic figures were calculated in September last year, at a time when firms were already seeing they would not hit the predicted 11.8% growth for 2008. Martin Birchall, managing director of High Fliers Research, who compiled the report, warned that there would be “swingeing cuts” across the sector.

Former students who took out loans before that year are being forced to pay more than double the existing Bank Rate of 1.5 per cent.

The rise will add to growing pressures on young professionals who are already struggling to find decent jobs because of the global recession.

Even students going to university after 1998 - when key changes to the student loans scheme were made - are being forced to pay more than the Bank of England's record low interest rate announced earlier this month.

Thousands of students are working in paid jobs as they struggle to survive even with maximum loans and grants, according to research published today.

Almost half of those who work rely on employment to fund basic living expenses. Many say that it has a negative impact on their studies.