Wan A’tirah Mahyuddin

Rising living costs and expensive higher education place many students under financial pressure, yet the evidence from Southeast Asia has not been brought together. Following the Arksey and O’Malley framework and PRISMA-ScR reporting guidelines, a total of 239 records were screened, comprising 174 records retrieved from Scopus and 65 records from non-Scopus sources. Eleven studies from five countries (the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand) were charted and synthesised narratively. Six were quantitative surveys, and five of the eleven appeared in 2025 or 2026. Six themes emerged. First, costs extend beyond tuition: programme costs, rent, and other indirect expenses create hardship even where tuition is free. Second, access to family resources and financial aid is unequal. Third, financial strain is reported alongside psychological distress and academic strain, a pattern of co-occurrence rather than demonstrated cause. Fourth, students cope through income generation, saving and economising, building financial literacy, cognitive reappraisal, spiritual support, and selective use of social support. Fifth, financial literacy and behaviour appear to shape financial well-being, although findings on financial stress conflict. Sixth, authors call for support beyond tuition, but no study evaluated an intervention. The evidence is mostly cross-sectional, and no eligible study came from Vietnam, Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos, Brunei, or Timor-Leste. Malaysia contributes one study, which examines financial well-being rather than coping strategies. Future work needs harmonised measures, longitudinal and intervention designs, and wider country coverage.