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Life Skills for Students: How Prepared are Students for University?

How prepared are UK students for life at university? We reached out to the people who know them best – their parents – to find out.

Drawing on 2,000 responses, Yugo’s nationwide survey spills a few home truths about Gen Z and its readiness to cope with life away from home. Despite their best efforts to pass on essential skills like budgeting, cooking, and cleaning, most parents admit their kids aren’t quite ready for the outside world.

That said, they have every faith they’ll work it out, with most parents agreeing that university is the best place for their kids to learn how to live independently.

Key statistics

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So, what do parents really think when their kids step out into the big wide world? As it turns out, there isn’t a great deal of optimism: 74% of parents feel their teenage children are either somewhat or completely ill-equipped for adult life.

On top of that, 77% of parents believe they were better prepared to leave home than their children are today. When asked for the reasons behind this shift, the most common responses were that today’s generation have most things done for them (46%) and they spend too much time on their phones (44%).

But, there is hope for those moving away from home to pursue a degree: 89% of parents believe university is the best place to learn how to survive as an adult.

That confidence comes from experience – 91% of parents who went to university say they learnt key life skills, as well as academic skills, during their time there – which goes to show that university is about much more than just getting a degree.

So, what are the top skills that parents are teaching their kids before they leave home for university? And, which areas will students have to use their own initiative to fill the gaps?

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Financial literacy

Arguably the most important part of living away from home, university poses the challenge of juggling rent, bills, and other expenses for the first time. And while a fair share of teens are taught basics like shopping on a budget, far fewer are shown how to set up a direct debit, or make sense of student loans.

Here’s how parents are teaching their kids to manage their money:

  • 50% of teens are taught how to shop for groceries on a budget
  • 48% of teens are taught how to open a savings account
  • 37% of teens are taught how to pay a bill
  • 36% of teens are taught how to create a budget and stick to it
  • 16% of teens are taught how to understand student loans
Two students sat on a sofa talking together

Healthy living

Between study, socials, and other activities, the healthy habits students develop as teenagers can easily go out of the window when they reach university. Alongside the challenges of eating well and exercising, moving away from home can also take its toll mentally – with only a select number of students taught how to properly look after their mental health.

Here’s how parents are supporting their kids to lead a healthy lifestyle:

  • 44% of teens are taught to be mindful of their mental health
  • 39% of teens are taught to recognise when to seek help from others
  • 35% of teens are taught how to book a doctor or dentist’s appointment
A group of students making food together

Cooking skills

Everyone knows the stereotype of the student who lives on takeaways and frozen food – but how accurate really is this? Well, there’s a decent chance that teens will know how to make student favourites like spaghetti bolognese, but most aren’t quite ready yet for meal planning or cooking Ramsay-level dishes from scratch.

Here's what parents are teaching their teens about cooking before heading to university:

  • 37% of teens are taught how to cook a spaghetti bolognese
  • 32% of teens are taught about food safety
  • 29% of teens are taught how to plan weekly meals
  • 20% of teens are taught what pantry staples to always have
  • 14% of teens are taught how to cook a tomato sauce from scratch
A group of students chatting together

Social skills

From peer pressure around partying, to living with strangers, the social side of university can be overwhelming for students. While some teens are taught how to build better relationships, research suggests there’s generally a gap between key social skills and more practical things like cooking, cleaning, and money management.

Here’s how parents are preparing their kids for the social pressures of university:

  • 43% of teens are taught about having empathy for others
  • 26% of teens are taught how to handle difficult conversations
  • 22% of teens are taught about respectful roommate etiquette
Person picking up laundry basket

Cleaning skills

Ah, the age-old debate – whose turn is it to take the bins out? Cleaning is actually one of the main skills that parents teach their children before they leave home. Thankfully, most students know how to tidy their room, but only a handful are equipped to take on more demanding tasks like removing stains, or unclogging a drain.

Here's what students are taught about cleaning before they head to university:

  • 63% of teens are taught how to tidy their room
  • 47% of teens are taught how to do their own laundry
  • 41% of teens are taught how to clean the bathroom
  • 18% of teens are taught how to remove stains
  • 12% of teens are taught how to unclog a drain

University: more than just a degree

As our research shows, few students are fully prepared for adult life when they leave home – and that’s okay. Besides lectures and coursework, university is all about trying new things, and learning through trial and error how to live independently.

Helping students develop key life skills is something we take great pride in here at Yugo. We actively support this through our Live Your Best Life programme, a wide-ranging initiative involving social activities, training opportunities, and other events designed to help students grow personally and professionally.

For more information on what we do to support students who stay with us in our living spaces, head over to our about page.

Dive deeper into the research 👇

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Cooking Skills for Students

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Frequently asked questions

What are the key life skills that students need for university?

The survey shows that many parents are taking time to teach their kids practical skills like cooking, cleaning, and money management before they head to university. Other key areas are social skills like respectful roommate etiquette and self-care – especially when it comes to mental health.

What are the essential life skills that most students lack?

There are quite a few basic tasks that surprisingly few teens are taught before setting off for university, be that unclogging a drain (12%), signing up to the electoral register (13%), making a tomato sauce from scratch (14%), sewing a button (16%) or – perhaps most concerningly – understanding student loans (16%).

How does university help students develop key life skills?

Research

Notes on the study

The survey includes responses from 2,000 UK parents with teenagers. Respondents were asked a series of multiple-choice questions about how prepared their children are for adulthood and the top life skills they have tried to teach their kids. The data was collected in March 2025.