Nursing student Effua Jordan wasn’t expecting car trouble on her way to clinicals, but a breakdown left her facing a nearly $500 bill. She asked family for help and put the rest on her credit card, scrambling to cover the unexpected expense.
While her car was being repaired, the fourth-year student at the University of Texas at Arlington had to rely on rideshares to reach her clinical rotations—often about an hour’s ride from campus—which affected not only how she showed up for patients but also how she participated in class.
“It just bled into other areas,” Jordan said. “Whenever I did get to clinicals, I would get there right on time because you can’t really control how quick an Uber comes. It was affecting my academics, too—just the stress of it all.”
Jordan’s experience reflects broader trends highlighted in a new report from Trellis Strategies. The postsecondary research and consulting firm’s 2025 Student Financial Wellness Survey, based on responses from more than 65,000 students at two- and four-year institutions, examined students’ financial security, basic needs and perceptions of institutional support.
More than half of respondents reported experiencing at least one form of basic needs insecurity. That financial strain is reflected in other findings: 54 percent of students said they would struggle to access $500 in cash or credit for an unexpected expense, and 65 percent said they had run out of money at least once since the start of the year.
Carla Fletcher, principal research associate at Trellis Strategies, said the survey illustrates how financial and basic needs insecurity can undermine student success.
“It shows that a lot of students are living on the edge,” Fletcher said. “A flat tire, medical bill or childcare disruption can derail an entire semester, and that financial precarity can affect their attendance, retention and even their mental health.”
Student financial security: The report found that 54 percent of respondents had used a credit card during the past year. Most said they always pay their bill on time, but 47 percent of those at two-year institutions and 35 percent at four-year institutions said they did not fully pay off their balance each month.
About 28 percent of students also reported using buy now, pay later services, such as Klarna and Affirm, while 13 percent said they had borrowed through payday or auto title loans.
“You really have to keep track of all of your payments to make sure that you don’t end up paying any interest or late fees,” Fletcher said. “So the more students are using these tools to pay for basic necessities, if they end up being late, they’re going to end up paying extra fees on food or housing or whatever they’re using it for.”
Adrian Caraves, a graduate student at the University of Houston Clear Lake, said he was surprised to learn through conversations with his peers how many were in debt.
“There should be more financial literacy around accepting loans and credit cards,” Caraves said. “It’s so convenient to put monthly payments on a credit card, but then I have to pay off those balances or my credit score will go down.”
“There have been times I couldn’t make a payment and my credit score took a hit—and I’m still recovering from that,” he added.
Working students: About two-thirds of students reported working while enrolled, and roughly a third identified primarily as “workers who go to school” rather than “students who work.”
“Institutions still sometimes design their policies around that traditional residential student, and that’s just no longer a reality for so many students,” Fletcher said. “They are missing class because of work schedules, childcare issues and unreliable transportation. So they’re kind of balancing survival against education, unfortunately, and sometimes that can directly affect grades, engagement and completion.”
Both Jordan and Caraves strongly identified with this characterization of students as workers first. Jordan, in particular, has balanced multiple jobs on top of her classes and clinicals to make ends meet, including working as a patient-care technician at a hospital and as a receptionist at an optometrist’s office, which has sometimes led her to skip class in order to pick up extra shifts.
Her experience reflects the survey results, which found that 20 percent of students missed class due to transportation issues, 20 percent of parenting students missed class because of childcare hiccups and 21 percent of employed students missed class due to work conflicts.
“Sometimes I’ll skip classes, which I shouldn’t, but sometimes it’s just that thing that you have to do,” Jordan said. “I just feel stretched thin. I can’t really be [in class] mentally sometimes because I need to focus on rent coming up in a few days, and I have to pay that off, so I need to pick up another shift.”
Balancing hardship and hope: Despite these challenges, students remain optimistic about the value of college. Most respondents said college is a good investment in their financial future, with 84 percent agreeing that a degree will provide a higher quality of life. Respondents attending two-year institutions were especially likely to see college’s worth and to recommend their school to prospective students.
Fletcher said this attitude reflects students’ continued faith in higher education despite ongoing financial strain.
“They still believe in education as a pathway to better opportunities in the future … but we do need to meet students halfway to keep that trust from eroding,” Fletcher said. “Some students are pushing through immense hardship because they feel they don’t have a better option, and they do have hope for a better future.”
“We just need to ensure that students are given the opportunity to reach the finish line,” she said.
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