Student finances: income, expenditure and take-up of student loans

Authors: Claire Callender, Elaine Kempson
Published by: Policy Studies Institute
Publication date: 1996
Report number: PSI Research Report 825
ISBN:0853746990

Financial support for students in higher education changed markedly in the 1990s, with the introduction of student loans and the freezing of student grants.

Based on interviews with almost 2,000 students at over 70 higher education institutions, this report explored in detail how much money different groups of students had at their disposal; the sources of their income; and how this had changed since the 1980s. It also provided details of how students spend their money, comparing them with other young householders living on low incomes, and with students in 1988/89 and 1992/93.

The study also looked at student loans - knowledge, attitudes and take-up - and concluded with an analysis of the extent to which students in different circumstances borrowed or drew on savings to finance themselves through higher education, and the scale of their debt and financial hardship.