Filling up the car with suitcases and boxes to move across the country is a rite of passage for teenagers heading to university for freshers’ week. For many students it is the first time they will live alone, dealing with rent, bills and a weekly food shop – not forgetting the annual £9,250 tuition fees. To fund this, But even for those borrowing large sums, between what the Government will pay and what student life actually costs.
Following an analysis of 49,161 rooms across the UK, Generation Rent has revealed that only one in six on-campus university rooms are affordable for students (“affordable”, in this context, meaning 55pc or less of the total maximum student loan). Here, Telegraph Money takes a look at which of Britain’s top universities are the most costly to attend – and where students, and parents, can save a few pennies. It shows accommodation at the University of Sheffield can come in at roughly half the cost of digs in Cambridge, while Bath can cost £1,000 more a year compared to nearby rival Bristol.
The capital has long been the most expensive place to be a student in the country and this is reflected in the maintenance loan rates. The London School of Economics advertises its cheapest room at £4,205.10, but students will have to share with two others.
If a student wants an individual room, it will set them back at least £7,490. The maximum rate at the university, which was founded in 1895, is £14,229 for a double studio and £16,193.16 for a double en suite (within halls).
At Imperial College London, the minimum rates for university accommodation are £136 per week for a twin room and £177 a week for a single room. For those with larger budgets, luxury rooms can be obtained for up to £346 per week, which would work out at more than £13,840 for a 40-week contract. A 40-week contract is a common length, as students often save money by only renting their rooms for term time and returning home during the long summer holiday.
University College London offers contracts of 39 weeks or 50 weeks, at a minimum rate of £145.32 a week, which works out to £5,667.48 for a shorter-term contract.
The maximum rate is £465.43 for a studio, which would be more than £23,271.50 for a 50-week contract.
The minimum rate for rooms at SOAS is £162, which is £6,480 over a 40-week contract, and the maximum rate of £387 would total more than £15,867 over 41 weeks. The University of London said its rooms started from £220 per week and varied in price due to size, amenities and location. It is an urban myth that studying in the city of dreaming spires is more expensive than in other places, Due to the collegiate system, there is no centralised rent agreement, so prices vary from college to college.
Some colleges allow students to stay through the “vacations”, but many stay just for the eight-week terms. The university has yet to provide confirmed accommodation prices for 2024-25. However, it stated it is expected to range from £745 to £925 per month, depending on what kind of room students have.
This means accommodation for the year could cost between £6,705 and £8,325. Those studying up Headington Hill at Oxford Brookes can expect to pay at least £4,883.95 for a non-en suite room for 38 weeks, and could splash out nearly £11,764.
79 for a double room for 50 weeks. The second half of the Oxbridge moniker is also yet to confirm its updated prices. Judging by last year, students at Cambridge can expect to pay around £800 a month for accommodation, according to statistics from the central university.
For food, £185 a month is budgeted, while social activities clock in at just £90 a month, which might be a stretch for party-hard students. Nearby Anglia Ruskin students can share a twin room for just £118.36 per week, working out at nearly £4,734.
40 for the 40 weeks and three night contract. Nursing, Midwifery or operating department students can apply for a 51-week contract at a reduced rate, working out at £5,508 for the year. Students who want a luxury studio flat can spend more than £10,547.
88 on a 42-week contract, although a more simple “Deluxe” studio is almost £500 cheaper over the course of the university year. across its 17 colleges, all but one of which accept both postgraduates and undergraduates. Rent for almost all of the colleges is set centrally, at a minimum of £6,805.
50 with a £2,940 food charge and a maximum of £7,429.50 with the same catering charge for the upcoming year. Rooms with larger beds attract a surcharge of up to £608 and St Chad’s College and St John’s College operate their rent policies independently of the university.
Near enough to Durham for students to travel between the two for nights out, Newcastle offers a little more hustle and bustle than its northern twin. In its only catered accommodation, prices start from £129.50 per week but rise to up to £220 for undergraduates in converted Victorian houses.
Students tend to apply for contracts of 40 weeks, meaning they could pay up to £8,800 for their contract. A bedroom in a shared house in the city starts at £70 per person per week, whereas a private studio will be much more, costing over £350 per week. For students who want to live near the sea and near London, without paying rent in the capital, Sussex can prove to be a popular choice.
Rent at the university’s accommodation costs from £119.64 a week, which totals £4,665.96 over 39 weeks.
The most expensive option runs to £8,135.40 for the same time period. As with other universities in the southeast of England, the cost of living at Sussex and in Brighton generally is higher than in other university towns.
In private houses, a single room is typically priced between £148 and £170 a week. A university student in Bristol will spend approximately £1,000 monthly, The university accommodation offers 22 rooms for £4,404, while the maximum students can spend on in-house accommodation is £12,376.98.
Rooms in shared houses with friends range from around £170 per week. At the nearby University of the West of England, rent ranges from £4,826.25 to £13,440 for a 42 or 45-week contract.
The winding streets of the Old Town and Edinburgh Castle offer a stunning backdrop for The university offers twin rooms from £3,270 for the academic year, although if a student wants to live alone they will need to fork out £8,178 if staying in halls. Reports in 2022 found that nearly one in five Edinburgh students were paying more than £800 a month for accommodation. In 2024, the university itself estimates that a single student can potentially spend between £920 and £2,257 per month on living costs as a whole, depending on their accommodation.
Scottish students are offered free tuition at Scottish universities and can be eligible for a bursary of up to £2,000 depending on household income. Total loans can be as much as £10,000, with households earning less than £34,000 eligible for bursaries of more than £500. Well-known for its rave scene, Manchester has long attracted students for the quality of its universities as well as its nightlife.
The University of Manchester charges just £113 per week for 41 weeks for its cheapest accommodation, which totals £4,746 for the year. The most expensive option is £238 per week, which works out to £9,996 over the course of the contract. Manchester Metropolitan university offers accommodation from £5,292 per year and its most expensive rooms are more than £9,000.
Prices for student accommodation in Manchester start at £90 and can rise to over £350 per week, depending on the quality of the accommodation. The average weekly rental cost for student houses in Manchester is around £104, excluding bills. the cost of university accommodation in Leeds University is higher than in some other northern cities, ranging from £4,788 to £9,345 self-catered.
For a studio, students can expect to pay up to £10,179 for a 39-week contract, while catered halls range up to £9,709. For students at Leeds Beckett, a 43-week tenancy can cost £150 per week, which increases to as much as £232.96 per week (£10,017.
28 total) for a studio flat. Students at Leeds Trinity have access to cheaper room rates, with the minimum of £100 a week totaling just £4,100 over a 39-week period. A maximum weekly rent of £156 is £6,396 over the same period.
range from just £4,200 for 42 weeks to £10,633 for 51-weeks in a studio apartment. At Sheffield Hallam, university accommodation ranges from just £91 per week to £190 per week – £8,360 annually. Those who rent from Unite Student, which provides accommodation close to both Sheffield and Hallam, will be paying upwards of £82 per week.
and offers rent in university accommodation from just £99 per week. On a 50 week contract, this works out at £4,950. The maximum accommodation rent is £258 and, on a 42 week contract, this comes to £10,820 for the academic year.
The university’s cost planning tool assumes that weekly rent in private houses in the city will be £108 per week, with £15 in utility costs. In terms of yearly expenses, the tool recommends that students budget £10,120 – £11,420 over the course of one academic year. Loughborough has a reputation for being the place to beat on the pitch or court.
The sporting university offers 41 weeks of housing for £4,864.95, with a maximum rate of £9,921.40 for 41-weeks in a top-tier room.
Private accommodation starts from approximately £89 per week and average at just under £130, leaving plenty of money left over for all-important sporting equipment and socials. the east midlands city hosts nearly 50,000 students. The minimum rent charged by Nottingham University is £125 a week, or £4,758 for the academic year, while the maximum is £277.
27, which works out at £10,813.53 for the standard 39-week contract. Nottingham Trent, which has recently been voted into the top 10 for university accommodation by Uni Compare 2024, offers rent as low as £4,398.
24 for the year. Alongside relatively low living costs, the city is an inexpensive place to be a student. Dartmoor and train links across the country, and student numbers have bloomed to nearly a third of the city’s population in recent years.
The cheapest university-offered accommodation comes in at £5,543.56 for the year, while the maximum costs £10,827.89.
Different contract lengths are offered in different accommodations around the campus. The weekly rent rates at the university’s Penryn campus, near Falmouth, where 6,000 students study, range from £130.41 per week self-catered to £226.
73 catered over a 40-week contract. and proves to be a cheap choice for students in the south west. Rents in university accommodation for 41-week terms range from £5,268.
50 for a single to £8,159 for a large en suite. Shared houses can range from just £100 to £270 a week, and the general cost-of-living is low as much of the city centre is walkable. The Welsh capital attracts students from nearly 140 countries across the world, The average cost of university accommodation is £129.
92 per week (working out at £5,196.80 for 40 weeks), and 70pc of rooms have en-suites. Students can expect to pay around £130 weekly on private rental housing, and the university advises that £90 is budgeted weekly for other essentials and entertainment.
This would put the average monthly cost of living in Cardiff at nearly £900, offering the ability to study in a capital city without facing London rents. Students from Wales are entitled to loans and grants from Student Finance Wales, totalling £12,150 for those living away from home and outside London, and £15,170 for those in London. Every student, regardless of parental income, is entitled to a grant of £1,000 and is loaned the remaining amount based on how much their household makes.
The setting for several Jane Austen novels, Rooms in university accommodation range from £3,420 for a shared, self-catered room on Bath University’s east campus to 10,982 for a studio in catered accommodation. A standard room with a washbasin will set you back £5,700 across 38 weeks, whereas the average rate for a private tenancy is approximately £650 per month. Students are advised to budget a minimum of £1,350 a month for living in the spa city, which is £200 higher than nearby Bristol.
This is inclusive of rent, household goods, gas and electricity, and anything necessary for maintenance across the academic year..
