What UK Students Say About Costs and Value for Money: NSS Feedback Analysis (5,994 Comments, 2018–2025)
Students’ comments on costs and value are overwhelmingly negative across the dataset. Tone is strongly unfavourable overall (sentiment index −46.7), with full-time and younger students notably more critical than part-time and mature students. Views are negative across broad subject areas, with the least negative tones in combined/general, psychology, engineering, and medicine/dentistry. Apprenticeships look far less negative, though numbers are very small.
Key findings
- 5,994 comments analysed across UK programmes (2018–2025); overall sentiment is negative (index -46.7)
- The category is dominated by negative sentiment: 88.3% of comments are negative, only 9.3% positive.
- Mode and age matter. Full-time students (78.7% of comments) are much more negative (index −50.4) than part-time (−33.8).
What are students saying in this category?
- The category is dominated by negative sentiment: 88.3% of comments are negative, only 9.3% positive.
- Mode and age matter. Full-time students (78.7% of comments) are much more negative (index −50.4) than part-time (−33.8). Younger respondents are also more negative (−50.2) than mature (−39.1).
- By subject (CAH1), negativity is broad-based. The most negative tones appear in historical/philosophical/religious studies (−52.9), creative arts (−50.4) and social sciences (−51.4). Combined/general studies (−37.8), psychology (−41.5), engineering (−41.1) and medicine/dentistry (−39.6) are less negative but still below neutral.
- Differences by sex and disability status are small (indices around −46 to −48). Ethnicity shows variation: Mixed ethnicity is more negative (−52.8) while Black students are less negative (−31.8), though all groups remain net negative.
- Apprenticeships show near-neutral tone (−1.2) but with only 13 comments; treat cautiously.
Breakdown and benchmarks
By mode of study
| Mode |
n |
Share % |
Positive % |
Negative % |
Sentiment idx |
| Full-time |
4716 |
78.7 |
7.1 |
90.6 |
−50.4 |
| Part-time |
1176 |
19.6 |
16.8 |
80.4 |
−33.8 |
| Apprenticeship |
13 |
0.2 |
46.2 |
53.8 |
−1.2 |
| Unspecified |
80 |
1.3 |
22.5 |
76.3 |
−31.7 |
Broad subject area (CAH1) — top 8 by volume (excluding “unknown”)
| Broad subject (CAH1) |
n |
Share % |
Sentiment idx |
| Social sciences (CAH15) |
557 |
9.3 |
−51.4 |
| Business and management (CAH17) |
458 |
7.6 |
−49.0 |
| Subjects allied to medicine (CAH02) |
418 |
7.0 |
−43.8 |
| Design, and creative and performing arts (CAH25) |
408 |
6.8 |
−50.4 |
| Historical, philosophical and religious studies (CAH20) |
331 |
5.5 |
−52.9 |
| Psychology (CAH04) |
277 |
4.6 |
−41.5 |
| Computing (CAH11) |
276 |
4.6 |
−45.0 |
| Combined and general studies (CAH23) |
274 |
4.6 |
−37.8 |
Notes on numbers: Sentiment indices run from −100 to +100. Very small groups (e.g., Apprenticeship, n=13) can fluctuate substantially; interpret with caution.
What this means in practice
- Make costs visible and predictable
- Publish a simple “total cost of study” view per programme: what fees cover, typical extra costs, when they occur, and what’s optional.
- Adopt a “no surprises” cost policy with minimum notice periods for any additional spend.
- Reduce out-of-pocket spend at known pressure points
- Prioritise areas with the most negative tone (e.g., creative arts, social sciences, historical/philosophical subjects) for cost audits of materials, trips, specialist spaces and licences.
- Expand equipment/kit loans, print/material allowances, and software access to reduce personal purchases.
- Target the groups with the lowest value perceptions
- For full-time and younger students, front-load information on included provisions, travel/placement reimbursements, and hardship routes; schedule support before cost-heavy weeks.
- Use short pulse checks after high-cost activities and close the loop quickly.
- Tighten support and reimbursement operations
- Standardise cost guidance in module handbooks and the VLE; keep a single source of truth.
- Set service targets for reimbursements and track turnaround time publicly.
- Learn from pockets of better tone
- Where programmes achieve less negative perceptions (e.g., combined/general, psychology, engineering, medicine/dentistry), capture and share practices that minimise student spend or clarify value.
How Student Voice Analytics helps you
- Pinpoint where value-for-money concerns are sharpest by mode, age, subject (CAH), ethnicity, disability and sex, and monitor movement over time.
- Drill from institutional to school/department cohorts; produce concise anonymised summaries for programme teams and finance/operations.
- Provide like-for-like comparisons across CAH codes and demographics, and segment by campus/site or cohort.
- Export-ready tables and narratives for quick briefing and action tracking.
Data at a glance (2018–2025)
- Volume: 5,994 comments; 100.0% sentiment coverage (≈1.6% of all comments).
- Overall mood: 9.3% Positive, 88.3% Negative, 2.4% Neutral (sentiment index −46.7).
- Composition: 78.7% Full-time; 19.6% Part-time. 70.1% Young; 28.5% Mature.