Context

Blackbullion is a digital financial education platform that helps students worldwide develop their money-management and decision-making skills, knowledge and confidence. This is the fifth edition of the Student Money and Wellbeing report to have been released by Blackbullion. The series has revealed important insights and trends which have informed good practice in student support at higher-education institutions in the UK.

This year’s report provides the headlines for 2025 before focusing on trends from the last five years, and is intended as a call-to-action by stimulating debate among UK stakeholders.

The study

This study was undertaken by Blackbullion to understand the thoughts, feelings and experiences that make up the financial reality of being a higher-education student in 2025. It involved a survey of a sample of 1,500 university students in the UK collected in November 2024. The survey was carried out on behalf of Blackbullion by Censuswide who also conducted the 2021 to 2024 surveys. The surveys in previous years each had approximately 1,000-1,200 respondents.

The report focuses on one key research question, “Which students need our support the most, and why?” and considers the findings under three headings:

• The reality of students’ finances in 2025
• Trends over the past five years of data
• Conversation starters to help you to take action

Key findings

Students’ finances in 2025

• The mean amount students said they needed every month was £924 compared with a mean amount that they got of £559, a ‘gap’ of £365.
• 77% of students said their financial situation adversely affected their mental health.
• 57% had experienced being too hungry or cold to study.
• 68% of students believed their financial worries would impact their degree grades negatively.
• 80% nonetheless felt confident that attending university was worth the cost despite tuition fee rises.

Five-year trends

• The ‘gap’ in earlier years had got larger, but declined dramatically in 2025. The trend matched the rise and fall of inflation.
• Nonetheless, a gap of £300 offered a robust indicator over time of the additional support students needed.
• The proportion of students not in paid work increased since 2023 from just over 20% to around 50% in 2025.

Conversation starters to help stakeholders take action

• Link student maintenance loans to inflation.
• educate students about the value of education.
• get a better understanding of students’ cost of living.
• consider if making education free is a reasonable request.
• help students close the financial gap themselves.

Points to consider

Methodological strengths or limitations

• The authors note that the sample was comparatively small (especially for subgroup analysis), and no details are given about how it was recruited or how representative it was expected to be (in 2025 or in previous years).
• There is no indication that the statistical significance of differences was considered.
• As such, the findings might not generalise well to the population of UK students, and should be interpreted with caution.

Applicability

• The study should be of interest to policymakers, staff in education institutions, and other stakeholders with an interest in the financial and other wellbeing outcomes of students.