This seminar will synthesise the findings of four recent research projects focused on contemporary students’ opinions and behaviours around money. The analysis spans both quantitative and qualitative approaches, across a mixture of single institution, multiple institution and international settings. It will aim towards a coherent understanding of the ways in which students view debts, bursaries and their investment in higher education, problematising some of the dominant discourses of students and demonstrating a rich diversity of student experiences where personal and psychological factors contribute as much as socio-economic ones. This will be contextualised against current policy developments and the accelerating marketisation of higher education.