Where and why do students work?

Introduction

The student experience in 2025 is increasingly shaped by paid work. The 2025 Advance HE/HEPI Student Academic Experience Survey found 68% of students work during their studies. Our Student Working Lives report, produced with HEPI and the University of Liverpool, London South Bank University and Buckinghamshire New University, examines the growing prevalence and impact of student employment in UK higher education. While we know more students are working, less is understood about where they work and what the implications are for universities.

Drawing on survey responses from 1,040 students across four universities, alongside linked student data, our study offers a unique insight into how paid work is shaping students’ lives. Through in-depth interviews with students, senior university managers and policy observers, it explored the realities of students working. Our study found rising living costs and insufficient maintenance loans mean work is now a necessity, not a choice for students.

Why do students work?

Although social and career motivations exist, financial necessity dominated the responses to our study, placing paid work at the centre of the modern-day student experience. 66% of students work to pay bills, and at most institutions, over 20% work to pay tuition fees, a figure that rises to 31% for international students.

We found that one in five students work to contribute to household income, and although some respondents identified as carers, in some cases we found a reverse dependency where participants were actively contributing to their household income, reversing the traditional narrative of parental support providing a back stop for students. This further underscores the diversity of responsibilities students manage alongside their studies and evolves our understanding of the student’s position within their family unit to one that balances academic responsibilities with significant financial obligations. This shifting reality is reshaping the student experience and what the government and universities can do to better support students.

Where do students work?

Turning to where students work, we found student employment is clustered around health and social care, retail, and hospitality sectors, with some variation between institutions.

Unsurprisingly, regional labour markets influence patterns of student employment. For example, our survey found more students working in health and social care in Lancashire, where the sector accounts for 15% of all jobs. Liverpool’s relatively high proportion of hospitality student workers reflects the sector’s significant role, accounting for about one-tenth of employment in the city region. This highlights the importance of student workers to local economies, but also exposes them to regional employment fluctuations and policy shifts. These sectors are not only central to student employment but are also frequently targeted by government programmes designed to reduce economic inactivity. However, because health and social care and hospitality are often the focus of these initiatives, policy changes or funding shifts can have knock-on effects for students. While the intention is to support people back into work, and rightly so, these interventions may influence the availability, flexibility, and stability of jobs that many students rely on during their studies.

Student employment patterns are shifting. National declines in retail and hospitality jobs coincide with a growing presence of students in sectors such as health and social care, which are currently in high demand. Whether these roles align with student needs remains unclear. While they may offer perceived flexibility, they often involve longer shifts, night work, and unpredictable schedules, factors that could affect students’ ability to fully engage with their studies.

Furthermore, participants expressed frustration at the limited availability of part-time roles in sectors aligned with their career aspirations. International students face additional barriers, including visa restrictions and perceptions that employers undervalue their prior experience and social capital. As one student noted:

“I wouldn’t say I had much choice, because as an international student, I didn’t have experience related to [the] UK. I had plenty of experience abroad, but that’s just not considered good enough.”

These constraints often leave students underemployed, often working in roles that do not match their skills or support their long-term career aspirations.

What does this mean for higher education?

Our findings challenge long-held assumptions about what it means to be a student as the cost-of-living crisis has become a defining feature of student life. Paid work is no longer an optional extra for experience or socialising, it has become a structural necessity for most students. As one participant starkly put it:

“If students can’t survive, then universities can’t survive.”

This shift has profound consequences. Students are not simply working more, they are often underemployed, in roles that do not utilise their skills or provide the hours they need. Regional labour market fluctuations make them vulnerable, and the pressure to

earn while they learn collides with academic experience. Our study found that this can result in compromised attendance, reduced attainment, and growing mental health concerns. These are not isolated issues; they are systemic, and therefore demand a systemic response from both government and universities.

Our report recommends government intervention, uprating maintenance loans and expanding grants to include all disadvantaged students, regardless of the course they pursue. But universities also have a critical role to play now. Institutions can start by recognising paid work as a legitimate factor in mitigating circumstances and responding with empathy to the time pressures students face. Flexible timetabling, expanded hardship funds, and accessible financial advice are also practical steps that universities can take.

Beyond this, universities should rethink how they connect students with employment. Universities can think about what jobs they can offer as student jobs. Internal job opportunities should be visible to students and designed with flexibility in mind. Furthermore, acting as civic anchors, universities can leverage their influence to work with reputable regional employees, alongside creating collaborative networks between universities, local employers, and community organisations, to create a coordinated approach to student employment, improving job quality and security for students. Finally, careers services could be repositioned to enhance the support they offer to students to help them navigate paid work during their studies, alongside creating pathways to graduate employment.