Student wealth increases 50 per cent in a decade
The days of impoverished students living a frugal existence are long gone with today?s students spending £1.8 billion* to fund a life rich with technology and luxury, according to new research from Direct Line Home Insurance.
Exploding the impoverished ?Young Ones? student stereotype once embraced by so many, the value of students? personal possessions has rocketed by 50 per cent in the last 10 years.
The average student now owns £2,900 worth of possessions, compared to £1,900 in 1996**. Must have ?gadgets? include laptops (owned by 64 per cent), i-Pods/MP3 players (55 per cent), DVD players (48 per cent), widescreen TVs (12 per cent), and PDAs (six per cent).
Luxury spending also extends to the wardrobe, with stylish students splashing out 40 per cent more a year on clothing and accessories than on books and essential household appliances (such as kettles and irons) put together***.
62 per cent ?treat themselves? to non essential items at least once a month, with female students being more likely to splash out (68 per cent) than their male counterparts (57 per cent).
Today?s students don?t consider their gadget purchases extravagant. Rather, they treat their studies as a job, in which technology is essential for success and luxury a reward for hard work. In order to fund their purchases, a significant minority (33 per cent) take on part-time work. Other funding methods include student loans (27 per cent), overdrafts (13 per cent), and credit cards (3 per cent).
The Direct Line research also finds that regardless of their newfound affluence, the majority (55 per cent) of students believe their area has prevalent crime levels, with one in 20 having been burgled in the last 12 months. Despite this, one in four (24 per cent) students forgo insuring their possessions.