Students Struggle to Afford Essentials: What can Universities Do to Help?
In the National Student Money Survey 2024, students across the UK revealed the challenges they face to keep up with living costs - with 67% saying they skip meals at least some of the time to save money.
Broken down, this includes 26% who said they often skip meals and 41% who sometimes do.
A number of students referred to the challenges they face to afford daily essentials like food in their comments.
For example, one surveyed student said:
“I went a week living on 300kcal a day because I couldn't afford food and I had to pay my phone bill instead.”
Another student said:
“Uni has been crazy and a struggle to keep up money wise. I have had to cut down on food and have lost 8kg since moving to university.”
Comments like these are extremely upsetting, and highlight the real risks to health that money issues can pose for some students.
What makes these findings particularly concerning is how widely the struggles spread. Over four in five (81%) surveyed students said they worry about making ends meet.
Financial issues can have knock-on effects on a range of aspects of students’ lives. Here’s an overview of the proportions who said their social life, mental health, diet, sleep, relationships and/or grades suffered due to money worries:
Social life – 65%
Mental health – 60%
Diet – 53%
Sleep – 42%
Relationships – 38%
Grades – 33%
These struggles are contributing to some students considering the drastic step of dropping out of uni.
Overall, 48% of surveyed students said they had thought about dropping out for money-related reasons. These reasons were money worries (38%), student loan repayments (18%) and loan interest rates (17%).
Maintenance Loan shortfall
A key issue for many students is that Maintenance Loans simply aren’t big enough to cover living costs.
To put this into context, the average student in the survey spent £1,104 per month, yet the average Maintenance Loan for students from England in 2023/24 was equivalent to around £600 per month (based on an FOI request from Save the Student to SLC).
If we compare the £600/month loan to £1,104/month living costs, this leaves a monthly shortfall of £504.
Tom Allingham, Communications Director at Save the Student, said:
“In England in particular, the Maintenance Loan has lagged behind inflation to such an extent that on average, it now falls short of living costs by £504 per month. Students are having to cut back on even the most basic necessities to make ends meet, with 67% skipping meals at least some of the time.
“While there's been a lot of media attention on the financial crisis faced by universities, it's vital that those studying receive the funding they need too. Just as students need their universities to stay afloat, universities need their students to have the money to attend.
“We're calling on the government to fulfil its manifesto promises to "deliver for students" by increasing Maintenance Loans to catch up with inflation, and end the financial peril faced by those at university.”
Additionally, Vivienne Stern MBE, Chief Executive of Universities UK, said:
“All students should have access to sufficient support to be able to thrive at university. No student should have to go hungry or be forced to make decisions about their future due to financial pressures.
“Universities have stepped up to alleviate cost of living pressures for students in a number of ways, including through boosting their emergency financial assistance funds and providing affordable eating schemes.
“But we know that this can only go so far, with universities becoming increasingly financially stretched. They cannot continue to do more with less.
“It’s imperative that the government reinstates maintenance grants and uprates the student maintenance package in line with real rates of inflation to ensure students can continue to benefit from higher education.
“This would ensure that those most in need of support do not carry the largest debt, and would reflect the increased living costs all students face.
“We know that financial concerns can be a huge source of stress and anxiety, so we would encourage any student facing difficulty to talk to their university's student support team.”
What universities can do to support students
This is a challenging time generally for the university sector, with 40% of higher education providers expected to report a budget deficit in 2023/24, according to the OfS.
There has been much talk around whether tuition fees in England can or should increase to between £12,000 – £13,000 as has been suggested.
However, amongst the many discussions of the sector’s challenges, it’s vital the needs of students aren’t overlooked.
With this in mind, here are some ways university support services can help students based on the survey’s results.
Optimise marketing approach to reach more students
When surveyed students were asked where they go for tips and advice about money, the most common answer was parents (56%), followed by money-advice websites (52%).
Interestingly, over one in five (22%) answered TikTok. This made it the most common choice of social media platform among the multiple-choice options, above Instagram (16%), YouTube (13%), Reddit (11%), Facebook (3%) and X (2%).
TikTok was also a more common answer than students’ unions (19%) and university money advisers (15%).
As such, for those working in universities, it could be worth looking into ways to utilise TikTok to reach more students and share money tips on a wider scale.
This is especially important given the risk of students encountering misinformation or scams on the app.
Through engaging and informative TikTok content, university support teams could make it easier for students to access reliable tips and advice.
2. Maintain cost of living support
While UK inflation has reduced since the soaring rates we saw between 2021 – 2022, the results of this survey indicate “the cost of living crisis is here to stay for students”, as suggested by Save the Student’s Tom Allingham.
Following years of below-inflation increases to Maintenance Loans, particularly for students from England, the struggles that emerged during the height of the cost of living crisis have effectively been extended for the foreseeable future. That is, until the Maintenance packages on offer to students are sufficiently increased.
As much as budgets allow, any support measures that were introduced by universities in recent years such as student food banks should, if possible, be kept available for those in need.
3. Ensure support is accessible to students
Unfortunately, of those in the survey who had asked their university for financial support or advice, 56% said it wasn’t easy to do so.
Given how upsetting and difficult money worries can be for students, it’s essential that those who do need help are able to access it with as much ease as possible.
As much as possible with available resources, university support services should explore ways to improve the entire process for students, from the signposting of available help to the delivery of advice.
For more information about the results of the National Student Money Survey 2024, you can read the full report on Save the Student’s website.
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