A growing number of tertiary students are supporting themselves financially through part-time work because many of them are studying away from home, according to data released yesterday.

Figures made public by the National Statistics Service (NSS) showed that the number of working first-year students rose 20.1 percent to 3,653 in the 2006-2007 period from 3,041 students in the 2005-2006 period.

Some 40,000 first-year students enrolled at Greece’s universities in 2006.

The number of students enrolled at universities outside of Athens and Thessaloniki rose considerably.

There was a 20 percent rise in first-year students enrolled at the University of the Peloponnese and a 19 percent increase in students at the Western Macedonian University.