Dhaka, Sept. 19 -- For university students struggling to make ends meet, money worries may extend far beyond how to pay the next bill.

They can mean difficulty buying study materials, worrying about food or transport costs, borrowing money, putting off tuition payments or even skipping meals.

Those pressures may also be intertwined with students' mental health and academic performance, according to new research involving 400 undergraduates at four public universities in northern Bangladesh.

Nearly half of those surveyed screened positive for probable major depressive disorder, while greater financial vulnerability was associated with more severe depressive symptoms.

Students who ate a wider variety of foods, meanwhile, tended to repor...