National Association of Student Money Advisers

Who are NASMA?

NASMA is a registered charity working to relieve the poverty of students through the provision of advice, information and training. We also provide information for the public benefit and for professionals delivering student money advice.  Having members in all four countries in the UK, we are collectively recognised as the leading authority on all matters relating to student advice and funding. We work closely with national decision makers and their influencers in student finance policy.

Supporting members to support students

It is no surprise the Covid-19 has had a huge impact on students’ financial situations going into this academic year.  This is inevitably leading to an increase in demand on hardship funds across the sector and increased numbers of students accessing support services more generally. The NUS recently released their second student survey results which documented the stark landscape. The survey had over 4,000 responses, yielding lots of data on student perceptions, finance, health and wellbeing for us as a sector to contemplate. This included headlines such as 3 in 5 students reporting a major impact on their finances, around a fifth of students have fallen behind with rent and utility payments and 18% reported using credit cards.

NASMA are planning to survey members in the coming months to gain more insight into the impact the current climate is having on FE and HE institutions across the country. Anecdotally we are seeing significant increased demand on already strained services and we are conscious of the role we can play in supporting members through this busy time through peer support, particularly through our regional groups.

We are currently working on our plans for National Student Money week 2021 which will be held in February 2021. National Student Money week has been our longstanding campaign to engage students proactively in financial education. In light of the pandemic and the impact this has had on students across the country, we have decided on the theme “Expect the unexpected” for the 2021 campaign, which we are delivering collaboratively with Blackbullion for the third year. We held an online launch event on the 2^nd November to brief members on the upcoming campaign and resources. We are also happy to have the support of Blackbullion to help us provide a coherent digital programme for the week. A website will be live shortly that hosts all of the campaign information. www.nationalstudentmoneyweek.com

Like everyone else in these uncertain times, we are adapting our processes and looking at new ways to offer training and development to our members and beyond. Our aim is to support them to continue delivering services to students remotely. Our 20/21 training programme offers various virtual sessions around supporting students remotely and how to effectively offer money advice by phone and email: https://www.nasma.org.uk/page.php?categoryID=Training-Events