Survey shows: 60% of US students are worried about financial situation
Studocu checked in on 1,100 University students in the U.S. to understand exactly how this economic uncertainty is impacting them and their outlook for the future. What we found out painted a pretty bleak picture of the state of student mental health.
It’s no secret that the world is currently going through economically challenging times. People around the globe are feeling the pinch of record high inflation and students, who are more vulnerable to price shocks than the general population, are feeling the impact on their mental health.
- 55% of U.S. higher education students reported their mental health got worse because of inflation.
- 60% say they have felt worried about their financial situation very (24%) or extremely (35%) often since the beginning of the school year.
- When asked about what feelings they experience most, students indicated that they experience stress (74%), anxiety (66%), and frustration (49%) the most.
Students are tightening their belts in the short term
78% of the respondents have less money to spend as a result of inflation. Because of this, 50% couldn’t save at all or as much as they wanted, and 44% had to use their savings to make it through the end of the month. To try and save money, students have been spending less on groceries (63%), (online) shopping (62%), and entertainment subscriptions like Netflix and Spotify (52%).
Students also fear the long-term effects of inflation
Besides experiencing the effects of inflation in their day-to-day life, students also fear effects on the long run. 74% think inflation will have a negative effect on their future financial situation, 71% say that inflation will increase their study debt, and 63% are worried that inflation will affect their post graduation job opportunities.
But this ‘financial anxiety’ isn’t as bad as ‘COVID anxiety’ was
The impact of inflation seems to be less negative than the impact of COVID-19: in the midst of the pandemic (December 2020) 68% of US students indicated that COVID made their mental health worse (compared to the 55% who have stated inflation is having the same effect).
How has … affected your mental health?
Students are also optimistic about 2023 being a good year for them; when asked what grade they expect to give the year 2023 they on average gave a 7 out of 10. When this question was asked at the end of 2020, students on average expected to give the year 2021 a 6.5.
Let’s hope 2023 won’t let students down and will be as bright as they expect it to be!
Methodology
Studocu asked users who are registered on their platform with a US university to answer a survey. Between 26 and 30 January 2023, 1100 students answered this survey. The survey that was conducted in December 2020 got answered by 848 users registered on Studocu with a US university.
