No student is ever completely prepared for the move from their childhood home to university but it turns out there might be a bigger reason behind why they bring their washing to their parents when they visit home. A new study from Aldermore confirms that one in four students say they have ‘helicopter parents’ and that they struggle with basic household tasks.
The research was conducted on behalf of Aldermore bank by Opinium Research in July (2025) and collected the responses of 1,000 UK university students.
What is a ‘helicopter parent’?
A helicopter parent is usually the type of parent that hovers a little too closely over their child’s life, usually out of good nature and in order to act upon their instinct of protection however can lead to the child being sheltered from external factors of life.
The Aldermore research provided examples of such helicopter behaviour which included parents holding their student children’s hand when they move off campus, and parents (23%) or the parents of flatmates (26%) influencing the choice of university accommodation.
Effects on students
Despite university being the chance for students to become more independent and many often choosing to move away from home to live independently, many students said they are “not confident” they can carry out basic household maintenance such as fixing a tripped fuse (64%), bleeding a radiator (66%) or checking a smoke alarm (41%).
Students being unable to carry out basic household tasks has also impacted the workload of landlords who regularly have to tackle tenant ‘emergencies’ ranging from changing lightbulbs to fixing leaks.
Decreased stress (and independence)
The research showed that nearly four in 10 students (38%) are not sure they’d be able to cope managing their accommodation entirely on their own. With 47% admitting they were happy that their parents/guardians were involved.
Despite this, some students wish they had more independence, “13% feel their parents have too much influence over their living situation, with many feeling less independent than expected because of their parents’ involvement (16%).”
The influence of parents
Aldermore said: “One in seven said their parents even made in-person visits to potential accommodation while they were house hunting (15%). What’s more, parents are often footing the bill, with 44% of students saying their parents pay part or all of their rent.
What boosts student independence?
According to the research, students who live in a rented house that occupies three or more people with shared facilities (HMO) often think the experience has helped to build their confidence in home maintenance tasks.
Most of those living in a shared house at university said that the experience taught them basic home maintenance skills (83%) and even more students said they felt “more confident about looking after a property because of their student housing” (86%).
Outcome of the research
All of this research summed up that students believed their ‘pre-university’ experience should have included more life skills education. Aldermore says: “One in four said their family gave them no advice about living at university before they moved in.
“A quarter went as far as to say they felt completely unprepared for the responsibilities of living independently at university. It comes as one in three (34%) have contacted their landlord whilst at university for minor issues they could have probably fixed themselves.”
