Towards an economic sociology of the student financial experience of higher education

This paper reports on an ongoing research project exploring the perceptions of finance held by undergraduate students and how these perceptions modify over time. It examines changing government policy on student finance in an historical context before moving on to provide a critique of contributions made to the sociology of the student experience thus far. The rationale underpinning the case for a new economic sociology of the undergraduate financial experience of higher education is presented and then augmented by way of empirical data. The final section then examines some of the implications of the research findings for the new and arguably still evolving government policy on student finance.