The average university student now owns over £4,500 worth of possessions – around £3,000 of which consists of gadgets.
Endsleigh’s 2014 Student Survey, carried out by NUS Services Research Department, found that the average value of a student’s possessions was £4,591 – while their gadgets alone were worth £2,883.
Laptops and netbooks were the most common items, owned by 96 per cent of students, while 91 per cent said they own a smartphone and 40 per cent of students.
Sara Newell, Student Markets Manager at Endsleigh, said: “Our research has shown us that students are investing more money than ever before to ensure they have the latest high-quality gadgets and possessions.
“We’ve seen over the last few years that students are becoming more reliant upon portable gadgets such as tablets and smartphones: from watching films to interacting with friends – these devices allow students to work and play while on the move.
Endsleigh also found laptops and smartphones to be the most prized possessions amongst students, with 39 per cent of students claiming their laptops to be so, whereas 32 per cent chose their smartphone.
Despite the increase in multi-purpose gadget ownership, Endsleigh has also found various other digital items to be popular amongst students, such as 37 per cent now owning a flat screen television, 34 per cent a games console and 17 per cent an e-reader.
The survey was conducted online during April/May 2014 and surveyed 2,128 university students.
For information, this is the survey upon which one part of the major changes to Disabled Students’ Allowances were based – the finding that “96 percent of students own laptops” therefore standard laptops will no longer be funded by DSA as most student already have them. (Regardless of whether of not the specific laptop is capable of running the relevant assistive software).
It would be interesting to know whether this statistic is the same for students not answering an online-only survey!