Finance 11 I will have enough money to cover my costs at university Strongly disagree Moderately disagree Neutral Moderately agree Strongly agree Figure 1: Breakdown of responses to Finance theme questions 15% 17% 25% 22% 22% I have family or friends that I would feel comfortable about asking for financial help if needed 8% 11% 17% 28% 36% I am confident that I can budget and manage my money whilst at university 6% 13% 23% 29% 29% Financial issues are affecting my mental health * 18% 18% 22% 21% 21% Applicants are less confident they will have enough money to cover their costs at university and less confident in budgeting and managing money. This has an impact on mental health, with 42% agreeing that financial issues are affecting it. As in last year’s results, international applicants are more confident about their finances than domestic applicants. Only 38% of UK applicants think they will have enough money to cover their costs, compared with 74% of international applicants. However, there is no significant difference between the two groups in the impact on mental health. Among UK applicants, financial confidence drops sharply by socioeconomic group. Applicants from group A (more affluent households) are much more confident than those from group E (least affluent households) across all four questions. A major driver is the greater confidence among applicants from group A households that they can turn to family and friends for financial help (72%) compared with those in group D (46%) and group E (45%). Applicants are less confident about covering costs. * For this question, agreement indicates a negative response; the score for this question was reversed when calculating the index score The Finance score indicates the level of confidence in financial means and skills. 57 Down 2 from 2025 Appendices Introduction Finance Thematic analysis Applicant Index Report 2026 Belonging, equity and inclusion Back to contents