The average weekly underestimate was just shy of £20 - a sizeable amount for a student on a budget. Failing to budget properly could leave you struggling to make ends meet while you’re studying.
The only exception to the underestimated costs of modern life were groceries – students thought six out of seven staple foods were more expensive than they are, perhaps because of recent publicity about the increased cost of living.
Only eight per cent of prospective students are extremely worried about their finances, compared to 13 per cent of current students. At the other extreme, prospective students showed less of a tendency to be worry-free when it came to money. Just six per cent said they weren’t at all concerned about their situation, compared to 16 per cent of current students.
Financial future
This lack of strong opinions among prospective students suggests they’re uncertain about what their financial future holds. This is partly because students receive inadequate or unclear advice or information. Others simply aren’t motivated to seek out financial information, or have faith that if they need anything, it can be obtained.
Concern about finances and debt rise as students progress through their course, with intermediate and final year students more worried than those at the outset. These students are more likely to have higher than expected levels of debt.
Female students were significantly more likely to express concern about their levels of debt than male students. A fifth (21 per cent) of men expressed no worry at all about their finances, compared to just 12 per cent of women. Only 19 per cent of men gave a high score of six or seven for their level of worry, compared to a quarter (26 per cent) of women.
Living expenses
The student loan remains the keystone of student finances. Two-thirds of current students possess a loan to cover their living expenses, and three in four prospective students plan to take one out.
Prospective students have an over-optimistic attitude towards being able to obtain alternative sources of (particularly non-repayable) funding: significantly higher proportions anticipated receiving special support from university bursaries, than actually do so.
Work
The majority of students (three in four) take paid employment to boost their income. About a third work during term-time, and a half during the holidays. Many students are unwilling to work during term-time, as they feel this would be detrimental to their studies and social life.
A significantly higher proportion of prospective students claim they’ll work during term-time, but this may suggest an underestimation of the time and effort they’ll need to devote to their studies.
This survey is part of the larger NUS student experience research which will be released in November and is based on research carried out by GfK NOP. Interviews with existing students were conducted from 2-24 June 2008, and with prospective students from 23-29 July 2008
Interviews with both groups were carried out via online questionnaires. A total of 3,135 current students and 250 prospective students were interviewed.