What is the buying power of UK students?

The Student Loans Company paid £11.3 billion in maintenance loans to UK students in 2024-25.[1] More than 1.5 million students receive financial support each year, equivalent to 3.5% of the UK labour force.[2]

As a result, UK students have substantial buying power, especially in categories that are essential to their studies, such as food, homewares, clothing and stationery.

In this guide, we will look at the buying power of UK students in more detail, to clear up some of the most common questions and misconceptions about this hugely powerful consumer demographic.

What do students buy?

UK students spend an average of £1,142 per month, according to the Student Money Survey 2025 by Save the Student.[3]

About half of this is their monthly rent payment. Essentials such as food, utilities and clothing are also high on the list, but so are entertainment and little luxuries:

Rank	Category	Monthly Spend
1	Rent	£529
2	Groceries	£146
3	Bills	£69
4	Transport	£67
5	Going Out	£61
6	Takeaways/Eating Out	£49
7	Clothes/Shopping	£40
8	Holidays/Events	£32
9	Other	£26
10	Health & Wellbeing	£24
11	Course Materials	£20
12	Charity/Gifts	£17
13	Friends & Family	£17
14	Mobile Phone	£15
15	Interest Payments	£15
16	Subscriptions	£13

Table 1: Average monthly expenses for UK students. Source: Student Money Survey 2025, Save the Student.

These are monthly averages spread across the academic year, but there are some costs that are higher in July-September as students stock up in the traditional ‘back to school’ period.

What do students need to buy in September?

UCAS offers a guide to Freshers’ Week spending to help new and returning students to see the upfront costs associated with the new university year:

“Moving away from home for uni comes with a variety of expenses… Overall, you can expect these to be somewhere between £250 and £1000.”[4]

These initial setup costs include:

At the same time that students face these front-loaded costs, they also receive their first maintenance loan payment, putting more than £1 billion into the student economy ahead of Freshers’ Week each year.[5]

When are student loans paid out?

The Student Loans Company (SLC) paid over £1.1 billion on September 22nd 2025 to 440,000 UK students, roughly 1% of the working-age population.[6]

This figure is up on previous years:

Further student loan payments are made at the beginning of each term.[7] That means students can expect to receive three payments over the course of the year:

Not all student loans are paid on the same day. In total, the SLC paid out £2.3 billion by the end of September 2025.[8]

Do student loans include tuition fees?

This figure does not include tuition fee loans, which the SLC pays directly to the universities and higher education colleges. In 2024-25, these totalled £12.5 billion.[9]

Like maintenance loans, graduates must pay back their tuition fee loans once they start earning enough.[10] For most new students, the repayment threshold is an annual income of £25,000.[12]

In practical terms, this means that the £11.3 billion figure is not eaten into by tuition fees, but is available in full for students to pay for their accommodation, course materials, living costs and entertainment.

How much is a student loan worth?

A UK student loan is worth £10,544 in 2025-26. This figure is the same for new[13] and returning[14] students, and is based on a full-time student living away from home, outside of London.

For other circumstances, the amount of loan a UK full-time student can claim varies:

Living Circumstances	Maximum Loan 2025-26
Living with parents	£8,877
Living away from home outside London	£10,544
Living away from home in London	£13,762
Studying abroad for a year	£12,076
Aged 60 or over at start of course	£4,461

Table 2: Maximum maintenance loan available to full-time UK students. Source: GOV.UK.

Different rules apply for part-time students, but part-time students under the age of 60 may be eligible for a maintenance loan, depending on their household income.[15]

Do students have any savings?

Most students do have money in the bank at the end of the year. In November 2023, the government published the results of the Student Income and Expenditure Survey 2021 to 2022, which asked 2,867 full-time students in England and Wales about their finances.[16]

The survey found that 69% expected to end the academic year with some savings, indicating that more than two thirds of students end the year with money in their account.

On average, full-time students expected to have £4,018 left by the end of the year.[17]

How to sell to students

Most current UK undergraduates fall into the Generation Z demographic. We looked at what appeals to this cohort in our recent article The Generation Game: What promotions work for every age group?

Gen Z is currently aged 16-30 and growing rapidly in spending power. By 2030, this value-focused generation is expected to surpass Baby Boomers in terms of disposable income.

We found that Gen Z consumers are twice as likely to access free gift promotions as Baby Boomers are.[18] Digital coupons and price discounts are also likely to appeal.

Why promotions matter to students

UK students have a limited but disposable income, which typically comes from several sources:[19]

Source	% of Students	Average Income
Maintenance Loan	79%	£5,950
Paid Work	58%	£3,600
Support from Family	78%	£1,160
Benefits	9%	£2,040
All Sources	100%	£11,500

Table 3: Average annual income for full-time UK students. Source: Student Income and Expenditure Survey 2021 to 2022, Department for Education.

The average full-time student spends £11,509 per year, which is very close to the median full-time student income of £11,500 when all sources of finance are taken into account.[20]

Special offers and sales promotions help students’ finances to go further. We looked at this in more detail in our recent article Five win-win ways to help students’ spending go further.

With a relatively stable disposable income from maintenance loans and other sources, annual spending on a similar scale, and several thousands of pounds in savings, the student demographic is one that should not be underestimated.

How can MRM help?

MRM have expertise across a wide range of marketing channels. We can help you to create a campaign aimed specifically at students, with key dates to coincide with each maintenance loan payment when students’ spending power is at its highest.

All of this is supported by our IT services, including Lodestone, our dedicated platform to power the most successful sales promotions.

To talk to us about any of our promotional marketing services, contact MRM today.