University of Bristol to launch financial wellbeing course for students

The University of Bristol is set to launch a financial wellbeing course for its students.

Hargreaves Lansdown, a financial services company, is working alongside the university to found the course, coming in this month (February 2025).

Following a successful pilot in early 2024, the course will feature five custom-built modules on financial awareness and planning, available to 150 participants – with future ambitions to offer the course to all students enrolled at the university.

Although financial wellbeing is on national curriculums in the UK, only 29 per cent have reported receiving financial education. Additionally, a further 64 per cent of students wished they had received a better financial education at school.

Recent statistics show students are becoming increasingly concerned about their finances, with one survey finding that 91 per cent of UK students were either somewhat or very worried about the rising cost of living. Prices across food, travel, accommodation, and utilities have risen faster than student loan facilities, leading to three in ten UK students taking on new debt (a 20 per cent increase from November 2022).

As a result, more and more students are taking on part-time jobs in an attempt to fill this deficit. In 2021, 34 per cent of UK students had a job while studying, which increased to 55 per cent in 2023 as they tried to make ends meet.

In a bid to alleviate student financial stress, Hargreaves Lansdown is working with the University of Bristol to provide a financial well-being course for their students. The pilot launched on the 15^th of April 2024 and consisted of five custom-built modules, delivered to over 70 participants through face-to-face mentoring sessions, webinars, and blended learning.

Most Read

Oh! This is the missing context to Elma and Ekin-Su’s heated dinner clash we all needed

Body language expert reveals this All Stars couple is FAKE and playing a massive game

Love Island’s Curtis has addressed whether he would be open to dating a man

Students who choose to enrol on the HL Financial Wellbeing course will get the blueprint for good financial health: How to create a smart spending plan and shop savvy, as well as tools to make their money work harder and build good money habits that they can take into life after university, setting them on the right financial path. By increasing their knowledge, students will become more confident in their financial abilities, helping them to combat anxieties about money.

Honor Yue Ai Brown, a University of Bristol psychology student who participated in the pilot, said: “The course has been an empowering experience, equipping me with the tools to manage my current and future finances effectively.

“I feel less anxious about my current university finances, and more confident in taking the initiative to make informed financial decisions to support my life goals. For example, I now consider employer pension schemes when applying to different graduate jobs.”

The content has been tailor-made for students, structured on HL’s 5 to Thrive framework, the five key building blocks for financial resilience. These modules will cover what core employee benefits to look out for when entering the world of work, as well as the role of investments when it comes to growing wealth.

The course is a welcome academic addition to the university’s wider student wellbeing package of financial support for students, which includes daily money advice drop-in sessions, scholarships and bursaries, and a hardship fund.

Prof. Bruce Hood, from the Department of Developmental Psychology at the university, said: “Student wellbeing is a priority for us here at the University of Bristol.

“Debt and money worries play a major role in mental health which is why we are delighted to be teaming up with Hargreaves Lansdown to deliver a course that provides some basic fundamentals and practical wisdom for students to better organise their financial situation.”

Professor Hood runs the university’s Science of Happiness course, which educates students about the latest peer-reviewed studies on happiness. The course was the first of its kind in the UK and has been found to make lasting improvements to students’ mental health.

Additionally, Clare Stinton, Head of Workplace Saving Analysis at Hargreaves Lansdown said; “University is a major milestone for many young adults, it’s the point in the road when newfound independence meets financial responsibility head-on.

Big financial decisions line the path ahead, and the choices made can pave the way towards financial security and freedom, yet we find that many are often unprepared to navigate this transition. Many young people have been largely left in the dark when it comes to managing money because, despite the introduction of financial education to the national curriculum in 2014, six in 10 young adults can’t recall receiving any during their time at school. Leaving such essential knowledge up to chance, often determined by postcode, does not equip the next generation with the tools needed to start adult life on the right financial foot.”

HL is leading the charge on financial resilience; in 2022 it launched its award-winning Savings & Resilience Barometer which measures the State of the Nation’s finances. Currently, they work with 31 employers to support the financial wellbeing of employees through the Bristol Financial Resilience Action Group, with the goal of extending this to include financial guidance and practical money hacks for university students.

After its initial launch, post-doctoral academics funded by the University of Bristol will assess the effectiveness of the Financial Wellbeing course.

Their research will also investigate the underlying mechanisms and predictors of financial well-being. Ultimately, the goal is to make these short-skill courses available on an opt-in basis to all 25,000 undergraduate students at the University of Bristol.