Spotlight on: student shopping

"If I'm going to go out and have some fun, I need to be wearing the right clothes to do it in" Female student at Lancaster University (from 'Mental Budgeting', research by Dr Sue Eccles).

Wearing the right clothes is a key concern for today's student. Recent MORI research identified the modern fashion for designer labels, along with keeping up appearances with peers, as the two biggest influences on student clothes spending. The average UK student spends £46.63 per month (women £49.65, men £43.44) on new items. At one university alone - Brunel in Middlesex - some 13,000 students spend £2.1 million on their wardrobes. No wonder retailers such as TopShop have invested heavily in student marketing.

What else do students spend their money on when out shopping? Personal convenience goods - CDs, DVDs, magazines etc - account for over £30 of the typical student's spending a month. When it comes to entertainment spending, audio equipment is second only to alcohol in the outgoings table, taking up 22% of the budget.

Book costs, an obvious expense, have led banks such as Royal Bank of Scotland to offer discount deals when students sign up for new accounts. "Depending on the subject studied, students spend, on average, up to £200 on text books per year," says Andrea Aitken-Paige, head of student banking at RBS. "Consequently, we are offering a minimum 20% discount on books."

Household accessories and decorations should not be forgotten. Habitat, which recently started offering an NUS discount, is seeing more and more image-conscious students come through its doors. The students are looking for items that will give their homes the same air of style that comes with their other purchases. They are the most transient consumer group in the UK, getting through three or four addresses a year sometimes, and each move precipitates a furnishings review. Whether it's lava lamps and Radiohead posters or Rothko prints and Phillipe Stark lemon squeezers, students treat their room decor as a personality statement.

At the end of all this spending it would be wise for students to get insured. 70% of crimes against students involve theft or criminal damage. NUS calculated the average student has £3,000 worth of possessions in their home, a fact that has inspired awareness-raising campaigns from students' unions and police forces across the UK.