Experiences and Risk Among Commuter Students in Higher Education – Office for Students – 28 July 2026

Date Published

28/07/2026

Client

Office for Students

Methodology

Savanta interviewed 1,069 students attending higher education in England online between 1-10 June 2026.

To ensure the research included a sufficient number of students with longer journeys, the sampling strategy targeted:
• circa 500 students with a one-way journey of 45 minutes or more to their main place of study, or one hour or more for students living in London, reflecting longer typical journey times in the capital (achieved 524 respondents),
• and circa 500 students travelling below this threshold (achieved 545 respondents).

The student sample under the commuting time threshold was weighted to be representative of higher education students in England by study level, mode of study, sex by study level, ethnicity by study level and age by study level. These population benchmarks are based on HESA data from 2024/25.

Representative quotas available for commuter students in England use address-based measures only. To allow us to explore the definition of commuters, and to ensure robustness for the student sample that meets the commuting time threshold criteria, survey invitations were sent to a sample pool that is representative of higher education students in England based on HESA data from 2024/25. The only screening rule set for this segment was the time-based measure described above. As a result, demographic characteristics are based on a natural fallout from this screening rule rather than a weighted or independently verified benchmark, and the sample is not weighted to any external commuter population. This is a limitation of the design that should be borne in mind when interpreting differences between commuter groups.

Savanta is a member of the British Polling Council and abides by its rules.

1. OfS_Experiences-and-Risk-Among-Commuter-Students-in-Higher-Education_Tables 0.01 MB.