What 12,000 college students told us about their money
We surveyed our user base on hostel costs, mess fees, festival spending, and side hustles. The numbers might surprise you.
Sneha Kapoor
Data Lead
We ran an opt-in survey across our user base in February 2026. 4,180 students from 117 campuses responded. Here's what we learned about how Indian college students actually spend.
The headlines
- Median monthly spend (excluding tuition): ₹14,200
- Top category by far: Food & beverage at 41% of total spend
- Median UPI transactions per month: 67
- % reporting they 'always run out before month-end': 58%
The surprising bits
Subscription stacks are massive. The average respondent has 4.2 active subscriptions — Spotify, Netflix, ChatGPT Plus, JioHotstar topping the list — for a combined ₹890/month. That's a hostel mess fee in some places.
Side hustles are huge
37% of respondents reported some form of income outside pocket money. Freelance design, content creation, tutoring, and small e-commerce dominated. Median side income: ₹3,400/month.
We'll be diving deeper into each segment over the coming weeks. If you want to be in the next round, opt-in is in Settings.