In our recent Student Money and Wellbeing Report 2025, the results highlighted several key issues facing universities today. In particular that:
- 79% of students are worried about their level of student debt.
- 39% of students said they didn’t know how to manage money.
- 77% of students said their money worries impacted their mental health.
More needs to be done to educate pre-arrival stage students on the cost of university. There is also the growing need for robust education on budgeting, alongside tools to improve the efficacy of budgeting among students.
Introducing Money-Ready for University
With the experience gained from hundreds of thousands of students who positively engage with our financial education, we began developing a digital learning solution to help universities target these issues specifically.
We’re hugely proud of Money-Ready for University (MRU)! It is designed to support those thinking about going to university, and empower Outreach and Admissions teams to enhance a university’s support for prospective and pre-entry stage students.
MRU is made up of a suite of learning materials designed to help prospective students understand the actual cost of university (while still presenting a positive case for higher education).
Universities using Money Ready for University also have access to analytics on individual students so you can measure the impact that your support has whilst being in the best position to help before a crisis develops.
MRU includes:
Everything students need to know about getting started at university, from loans to accommodation costs and tuitions fees.
Demystifying the student lifestyle, with hacks for commuting to uni, meal prep and more.
Knowledge for aspiring international students, featuring local secrets, money slang, as well as all the essential funding information.
Inspired by behavioural psychology and expert research, our Money Mindset quiz helps learners identify their unique money personality and uncover the "why" behind their financial behaviours.
Bonuses:
Learners can also earn their first learning badge, and begin gathering bullions, which can be traded in for rewards on our app.
How Universities Use Money-Ready for Uni
Universities can integrate MRU across multiple areas of support, including:
- Outreach work with feeder schools and colleges – support your community partners by providing access to pre-university learning. Blackbullion is OFFA Accountable.
- Open Days for prospective students and parents – introduce key financial information at the right time.
Admissions and onboarding of the incoming cohort to prepare them for success by getting them to develop the money skills they need to transition - Targeted support for defined cohorts in need of support i.e. Care Leavers.
- Pro-active engagement that extends your reach campus wide beyond normal staff capacity with scalable technology that puts students in control of their learning.
- Pastoral support networks – equip staff & peer-to-peer networks with an educational tool they can share when they’re faced with students who have money worries.
- Student Union / Associations – welfare and education campaigns have the opportunity to support the mission of the university pro-actively.
If you work in a university and want to get your students money-ready before they arrive on campus, contact our team for an introductory discussion. Or you can find out more here.
