Overview: What Impacts Student Happiness

*Finances Good: Ability to easily handle a major unexpected expense and money left at the end of the month.

Download the Chart

Category/key

MHI5 scores

Non- binary/other, finances not good

37.2

Long term illness/disability, finances not  good

38.9

Living at home, finances not good

39.0

Female, finances not good

47.8

ALL, Finances not good

48.8  

PBSA, finances not good

49.1  

No long term illness/disability, finances  not good

51.1

Male, finances not good

51.4

Long term illness/disability, finances good

52.6

SLM Average

57.8

Living at home, finances good

61.2

Female, finances good

61.8  

ALL, Finances good

64.1

PBSA, finances good

64.1  

No long term illness/disability, finances  good

65.3  

Male, finances not good

67.5

Students who obtain their first choice of accommodation are far more likely to recommend it to others. NPS average rating of first choice accommodation is 7.6 /10 whilst those who did not obtain their first choice give an average score of 5.7 /10. The living experience of students not in their first choice accommodation is lower at MHI-5 score of 54 than those who did at 59.

Importance of Agency and Choice

Download the Chart

Students with disabilities or long-term illness reported an average MHI-5 score of 45.78. Compared to those with no disability/illness (59.72) there is a 14-point difference. Those who don’t identify as cisgender (male and female) have much worse MHI-5 scores (48.77) than students who are female (56.27) and male (61.00).

Download the Chart

Financial pressure is negatively linked to living experience and the wellbeing impact of accommodation. Nearly 2/3rds of the respondents are negatively impacted by finances.

Download the Chart

Impact of Rent on Mental Health

The relationship between rent and MHI-5 is weak, as shown in the charts for 2024 and 2023 SLM results. However, student testimonials gathered by SLM do show that being able to afford rent is a stressor for many.

Download the Chart

In each year, those who don’t pay rent suffer from poorer mental health and this is connected to the poorer wellbeing scores observed by the survey of those who live at home who arguably have little autonomy in defining their living environment.

Students accessing mental health services on a regular basis unsurprisingly have poor mental health MHI-5 scores, averaging 55.39, as compared to non-users (59.16).

However, for these students who are using services made available to them, the impact on wellbeing from their accommodation is very high (7.8/10).

Download the Chart

40% of students said that their living had been negatively impacted by loneliness. Those who had been affected recorded an average MHI-5 score of 49.6, compared to a score of 63.2 for students who had not been affected by loneliness. This is a 13.6-point difference, making it the most pronounced personal issue identified in this survey. Conversely, those not experiencing loneliness had some of the best living experience in the survey.

Download the Chart