Cost of Living Research Project

Here you can find out about everything to do with our new research project to investigate the impact of the cost of living crisis on students at Kingston.

Why are we doing this?

As a part of the objectives of the Union of Kingston Students to improve student experience, the Union is conducting a major research project every year. After consultation with the officers, the topic for the 2023/24 research project is the impact of rising cost of living on Kingston University students.  

The research project will seek insight from the students to understand how the rising cost of living has impacted their life and experience at the university. We will also review cost of living support programmes at Kingston University, and at other universities and students’ unions.

Over the last couple of months, we've been undertaking some desk-based research to understand what's currently on offer and what we can learn from looking out across higher education from other Universities and Students' Unions. We've brought all of that research together below in the form of a briefing document to mark the launch of this research project.

Survey and focus groups

On 15th January to 4 February 2024, we ran a survey to understand how your life and your experience at University has been impacted by the rising cost of living. We gained so much valuable insights from you, and here are the key findings: 

We have also held focus groups with students on 26th and 27th February 2024, where we dug deeper on the issues emerging from the survey.

How does this work?

Each research project will follow a process the same process:

Desk-based research - An investigation into existing research on the topic such as publications, articles, and media. It will also include establishing an understanding of what is already on offer, whether that's how something operates or support already available.

Consultation - Utilising surveys, focus groups and interviews to hear from students, diving into some of the topics brought forward by the desk-based research.

Solutions - In partnership with students and other parties where relevant, identifying and agreeing a set of solutions that seek to resolve and improve on the experiences of students, as identified through consultation. These will then be prioritised, published, and utilised to lobby the University.

I have a question

You can ask us any questions by emailing representation@kingston.ac.uk or dropping us a message on social media.