<![CDATA[The KIP Kuliah programme gives students from low-income households a monthly living allowance on top of tuition support, yet the money reaches them at a stage of life shaped by digital consumption, peer pressure and easy credit. This article examines how lifestyle bears on the financial management of KIP Kuliah recipients at the Islamic University of Jember (UIJ) and how Islamic economic law should classify the use of that allowance. The study is qualitative and normative-juridical. It combines institutional data on 708 recipients from the 2022-2024 cohorts, the 2025 KIP Kuliah guideline, published empirical studies on student finance, and the fiqh literature on consumption, israf, tabdzir and amanah. Three findings emerge. First, the Jember allowance of IDR 800,000 per month falls in the lowest cluster, so even modest trend-driven or peer-driven spending quickly crowds out academic and basic needs. Second, the allowance is best characterised in fiqh muamalah as a purpose-bound grant held in trust, which means that diverting it to non-educational consumption breaches the condition attached to it rather than being merely imprudent. Third, the hierarchy of daruriyyat, hajiyyat and tahsiniyyat offers a workable test for separating permissible consumption from israf and tabdzir, and it brings paylater and online lending within the reach of the rules on riba and gharar. The article recommends Sharia-based financial guidance attached to disbursement at Islamic universities.]]>
