Who we are

In England, only 26% of 18–21-year-olds say they received any form of financial education at school. And of the small group who did, only a fraction feel it prepared them for real-world decisions.

Yet students are expected to juggle tuition fees, maintenance loans, rising living costs, term-time work and everyday bills — often without ever having created a budget, saved for emergencies or understood how interest and debt really work.

This lack of preparation follows them into adulthood. Young people are leaving school without the basic money skills needed to manage the debt they take on after university. Today, the average student enters repayment with around £53,000 of debt.

This is the gap that Sterling Sense exists to close.

Sterling Sense is a platform dedicated to making financial literacy simple, practical and understandable for students. Through on-campus workshops on topics like budgeting, saving, managing debt, and financial wellbeing, our goal is to give students the financial foundation they should have started university with, so that they can focus on their ambitions, not their anxieties.

We believe financial confidence is one of the strongest assets a student can carry into their future. That’s why we’re committed to empowering the next generation with the knowledge, tools and clarity they need to make smart decisions, build wealth early and step into adulthood with confidence.