Is 2026 the most difficult year to be a student financially - or simply part of a worsening trend?
This year, 71% of students, out of 2,000 surveyed, declared that money had negatively impacted their university experience. Does this declare 2026 as the worst year to be a student financially?
2026 marks a peak in student financial anxiety, with more university students being anxious about their money in the past six years. Blackbullion, a digital financial education platform, found in their annual survey that 9 in 10 students are worried about their finances this academic year.
A third year psychology student at the University of Sheffield stated: “I cannot afford to go out anymore. 80% of my money goes on rent”. He explained that simple pleasures such as going out for food is not feasible for him anymore, and it is simply cheaper for him to stay at home. He is not alone. Numerous students have expressed major anxieties when asked about their feelings towards their financial situation. A majority of students rated the extent of their anxieties an eight or higher out of ten, highlighting the detrimental impact finances is having on mental health this year.
However, some experts suggest that this isn't an imminent crisis, but simply a long term decline. Graham Wright, from the National Association of Student Money Advisors, said: "The last few years have been more difficult due to higher accommodation costs, not just this last year, but things have been getting progressively worse for students year on year for the last 10 years".
He added that maintenance loans have failed to keep pace with inflation, rising on average 1.95% below it annually since 2016 — leaving students increasingly short of what they need to live on.
How are students immediately affected?
Save the Student, a financial advisory website, conduct a survey every year to assess how students feel about their finances. This data presents how financial anxieties have impacted student's lives in the 2025/26 academic year.
The survey found that 50% of students state that their mental health is negatively impacted by financial worries. In the report alone, 83% of students stated that it affected their wellbeing in general. This has increased from 80% of students from last year.
Obtaining a social life is integral to a student's university experience. However, 59% of students state that their social life is impacted by financial anxieties, making it the largest factor this year. Margot Buchanan, a 1st year MSc student at the University of Sheffield, stated that, compared to her undergrad, she has remained at home mostly. This year, she has had to cut back on her gym membership due to her rising rent costs.
The data is important in showcasing how individual lives are affected by increasing financial worries.
This year specifically, student's have notably mentioned the detriment to their wellbeing, due to their lack of finances. While most students noted different expenses that they struggled to cover, they all agreed that they simply do not have enough money to be comfortable enough with their spending.
A 2nd year Politics student from the University of Sheffield, who didn't wish to be named, speaks on the lengths that she had to go to obtain finances:
Arashdeep Dhillon, a 3rd year Aerospace Engineering student from the University of Sheffield, speaks on how difficult he finds managing his finances:
The table on the right represents the percentage of students who have faced mental health difficulties due to their rent payments. It is interesting to see that more students have suffered from mental health issues this year, compared to 2020 which was the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the Institute for Fiscal Studies, mental health issues in 2020 increased by 8.1% on average within young adults. The fact that mental health difficulties increased by 35% in 2026 compared to 2020, confirms how debilitating financial anxieties have become for students this year.
What do experts say about 2026's financial climate?
Genevieve Gardener is a housing and money advisor at the Student Advice Centre in the University of Sheffield.
The Advice centre is a holistic service that helps students who are looking for additional funding. They look at a student's bursary and loan entitlements. A vast amount of students who seek this support do not have enough money, and wish to obtain funding from the university. Genevieve expresses how she has seen an influx of students this year, and why she thinks that is.
Housing and money advisor speaking on student's financial struggles this year.
Samer Adra, a senior finance lecturer in the Management School at the University of Sheffield, explains why students face difficulty.
Mr Adra’s view is that every year faces higher financial constraints than the year before. He expresses that because every year gets more expensive, every cohort of students suffer greater.
He states: “It is tempting to frame any given year as “the most difficult ever” for students financially, but in a strict economic sense, every year is the most expensive year on record. This is simply the mechanical consequence of sustained positive inflation. Even when central banks, such as the Bank of England, aim for a 2% inflation target, prices are still rising year after year, and recently inflation has been closer to 3%. The baseline reality is therefore that the cost of living is always increasing.”
Mr Adra goes on to explain that this mounting pressure from inflation is exacerbated for students. As students are already faced with financial pressures from living costs compared to an average working person, it means that they in turn feel the consequences of financial difficulties severely.
Mr Adra said: “Rent, food, and transport all become incrementally more expensive. More importantly, their [students] ability to offset these costs is constrained. In uncertain times, employers tend to scale back hiring, particularly for flexible or part-time roles that students rely on. As a result, while rising prices are a constant feature of the economy, periods like the present feel more difficult because income opportunities are also weakening.”
"In a strict economic sense, every year is the most expensive year on record"
While financial pressures have always been at the forefront of university life, evidence suggests that the situation has increasingly taken a toll on students' mental health this year. Many now face the constant struggle of having to stretch their finances over rent, food costs and social activity.
For many, 2026 marks not a temporary setback but the continuation of a steadily worsening trend. Rises to inflation with no increases to maintenance loans means student's just do not have enough money. According to a recent Parliamentary report, the proportion of students receiving the maximum maintenance loan has fallen from 57% in 2012/13 to just 38% in 2021/22. At this rate, it is projected to drop to 19% by 2030.
Ms Gardener said: "I wish there was a straightforward answer but there isn't, there just isn't enough money and the fundamental problem is the maintenance loan funding."
Students looking for support can access help from these sites: MoneySuperMarket, SavetheStudent, GOV.UK
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