Cash-strapped UK university students are increasingly unable to live independently and are being forced to remain at home, limiting their participation in campus life and undermining student engagement. The story describes University College London student Mariam, who waits on campus because commuting to her family home for events across the day is too exhausting and time-consuming. The pattern is presented as a growing constraint on students from poorer backgrounds who are cutting options due to money worries. With tuition and living costs continuing to pressure households, the report emphasizes the operational consequences for universities: lower event attendance, reduced involvement in extracurricular activities, and wider inequities between students who can afford housing and those who cannot. For higher education leaders, the issue is not only about affordability; it affects retention signals, student connectedness, and equal access to co-curricular learning opportunities.