Report: Students

Media & Technology:

How often do you use the internet and which sites do you visit?
The student respondents use the internet everyday! The main reasons are for researching university work and projects, checking emails and keeping in contact with their friends who are at different universities and to search for music. Most go to their university home page daily, for course notes and information.
Google is the top site engine used and most respondents use the internet as a source of news and as a way of keeping up to date with what is going on in the world, including news stories and events. Male respondents visit football and sports websites frequently.
MSN is popular as a cheap and quick way of reaching friends. Students love that it is free and for this reason use it instead of their mobiles as much as possible.

What mobile phone do you have? Which tariff are you on? What do you like/dislike about your network provider?
There was an even spilt between those on pay monthly and pay as you go tariffs. Students were well aware of the different models and most could name their mobile model number easily.
The Samsung D500 and various Nokia phones were the most popular models.
Tariffs that students liked included O2 on line account, which they found, because it is conducted all on line, easy and agreeable to manage.
The Orange Student deal was also mentioned specifically.

What media do you consume? (prompt with newspapers, TV, web)
Students read more broadsheets than tabloid newspapers and the Guardian and the Independent came out top.
TV shows students’ view include soaps such as Eastenders, Hollyoaks and Neighbours and reality shows such as Big Brother.
Newspapers with extensive sports coverage and facts are essential for male students.

What are the most popular radio stations?
BBC radio stations are popular because they offer such a wide variety of different musical styles and the respondents tune into many of the digital channels on offer such as One Extra and Radio One.
Most respondents named quite a few different stations including KISS fm and Choice, hinting that they do not like to be limited to one single channel but prefer to channel hop.

What are the top magazines for your age group?
Girls love fashion and gossip magazines while Boys prefer lads mags and specific interest magazines for sports, cars and cycling.

Finance:

What do you spend most of your money on? How difficult/easy is it to manage your money?
Feeding and clothing themselves takes a big chuck out of the budget, as does suitably liquidising themselves with alcohol and socialising.
University equipment and books are also mentioned as a big squeeze on the purse.
Buying music is another expense.

Do you have a job at University? If yes/no – why?
Many of the respondents work part time in order to make ends meet and some even have two jobs.
Working in the summer or during the holidays is an option that allows them to earn money without compromising their studies.
Surviving on student loans alone is difficult and working while at university is: “very distracting and makes it difficult to concentrate on studies.”

How do you feel about student debt? Does it worry/bother you?
Most prefer not to think about student loans, preferring to worry about after they graduate.
Pressure and stress is lifted because everyone is in the same boat and most believe that the opportunities that arise from attending university make taking the loan worthwhile.

What is your opinion of loans?
Student loans are seen as a necessity but reviews on the amount received should be related to the course that is attended as many vocational courses require lots of materials.
One respondent described it as the ‘black cloud hanging over us’
Many thought more grants should be introduced.

What services/features do you look for in a bank/ financial institution?
Railcards are one of the best features on offer and over draft facilities with 0% interest fees are the top things that students look for.
Others prefer to stick with the banks they have been with for a few years as they like familiarity.

Careers/Future:

What are your aspirations? Where do you see yourself in ten years time?
Respondents said travelling and establishing a career were their main priorities.
Others were more sketchy and were trying to finish their courses before thinking to far ahead.

What are your salary expectations when you graduate (hopefully and realistically)?
Salary expectations were an average of £18-30K and most were optimistic that they would secure a well paid job quite easily after university.

Do you think the easy accessibility to a University degree has made it more difficult to obtain a job after graduation? Does this worry you?
More access to university has lead to more pressure to obtain high class degrees and the importance of studying for longer and doing masters is realised in order to stand out from the competition.

How do you feel about graduate schemes? Do you think this is the path you will use to secure a job?
Graduate schemes and work placements within courses was widely popular and many see the importance of gaining work place experience before leaving university.

How do you think current government initiatives will affect you after graduation?
The biggest issues were paying back student loans and most were thankful that they did not have to pay tution fees on top of that.
The rapidly increasing cost of university made many think and appreciate of going to university without them.

Leisure:

What do you do in your spare time?
Socialising in bars and pubs as well as watching TV and shopping seemed to be one of the biggest past times.
Physical activity such as sports and using university gyms also accounts for much of student’s spare time.
The cinema is popular as if offers special student deals.

How many hours a week do you spend studying? How much spare time do you have a week?
The average time spent studying seems to be between 8 – 15 hours, but this varies considerably depending on what course is taken.
Many try to do the bare minimum when it comes to working at home and prefer to distract themselves with other activities.
Most of the respondents have a significant amount of free time on their hands but quite a few have part time job to hold down on top of their university obligations

How often do you go shopping and what shops do you like to go into?
Once or twice a week for the girls, which includes food and clothes shopping. New loan instalments mean a big shop up after being cash strapped for months! Topshop is the most popular shop and students love the 10% student discount on offer.

What are the top clothing brands at university and why?
Students are not massively brand specific and prefer high street labels. Topshop, H & M, River Island ad Bench were all named. Student remark that: “The first couple of weeks of a new term are like a fashion show, and then it dies down.”

Which sports do you participate in/ how often do you go to the gym?
Going to the gym and participating in university teams were top answers but more than a third do no sports at all.

Alcohol/Drugs:

Give me an example of a typical night out… (one at wk/end, one on week night)
A typical student night out consists of having drinks at home first with friends before hitting the clubs and students prefer to bypass expensive pubs and head straight to the club.
The most popular nights to go out are week nights or student club nights because these are considerably less expensive than going out at the weekend.

What alcohol drinks do you buy? Why? What are the most popular drinks at the moment? Why?
Lambrini, cheap wine, beer , Snake bite,Vodka & Red bull and Jack daniels are the drinks of choice. The top drinks tend to reflect current deals and bargain prices.
Alcopops are out but purchased if they are cheap.

Are you aware/describe the current drug culture at university?
There is a widespread use of marjanuna, pills and coke and it is a popular time to experiment with drugs. All of the respondents were aware of a drugs culture but it was seen as part of the norm of university and not out of control.

Do you drink more at home or at the pub? Why?
The majority drink more at home because of the cost of drinking at bars and enjoying wine at home is popular with girls. What kind of pubs do you drink in? What do you look for in a pub? (prompt with music, drink offers, design, crowd, opening hours etc).
Music and drinks offers scored highly, but atmosphere is as important. Students want somewhere that is trendy and populated by people of the same age, with the right crowd.

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