Students in South African institutions of higher learning are faced with a number of stressors. The objective of this study is to determine whether there are differences between stressors facing students who scored high and those who scored low, on the Purpose in Life Test (PIL). For this purpose, a random sample of 101 first-year students in the Faculty of Management Sciences studies was selected to participate in this study. A stratified sample of two groups, 10 students with high PIL-scores and 10 students with low PIL-scores, was selected from 101 participants. A biographical questionnaire and semi-structured interviews were used to gather information.

A computer software package (NUD*IST) was used to analyse the interviews. The findings indicate that, irrespective of their levels of meaning, students experienced the following as stressors: family problems, peer pressure, increased responsibility, financial difficulties and lack of accommodation. The findings provided information that would enable academic staff and institutions to come up with the best intervention strategies (coping mechanisms and support systems) to help students to cope with the stressors.