The UK's most affordable university cities for students aren't always the first place you'd think of to study (Photo: National World/Getty/Adobe Stock)The UK's most affordable university cities for students aren't always the first place you'd think of to study (Photo: National World/Getty/Adobe Stock)
The UK's most affordable university cities for students aren't always the first place you'd think of to study (Photo: National World/Getty/Adobe Stock) | National World/Getty/Adobe Stock

The 11 cheapest UK towns and cities for university students - based on rent, transport, grocery costs and more

Getting your bachelor’s degree doesn’t necessarily mean breaking the bank 💰

University can be an expensive time - and that’s not even counting the student loans.

For many students attending university will be their first time living outside the family home, and managing their own finances. On top of that almost everyone is feeling the pinch of the cost of living crisis, which is having a huge impact on things like rent and grocery prices.

With secondary school finishers last week wrapping up their A-Level exams, many will now be looking towards heading off to university in Autumn. And with dozens of universities and campuses where you can study towards your degree spread right across the UK, there are options aplenty - including many cities where it will be much more affordable to be a student than the likes of London.

To help students navigate the financial landscape, researchers from student furniture supplier Deskup have looked into which are the most and least affordable UK cities for students to live in. They have calculated results from 100 towns and cities right across the UK’s four countries, based on 13 different factors assigned different weights.

These include monthly rent for a one-bedroom apartment in the CBD (13%); the price of a monthly public transport pass (13%); internet (13%); monthly grocery average (13%); electricity, heating, water and rubbish bills for a 915 square-foot apartment (13%); average monthly coffee cost (9%); the cost of two McDonalds’ meals a week per month (8%); a four-pack of domestic beer every weekend per month (5%); a monthly fitness pass (5%); the number of parks in each city (2%); the cost of one cinema ticket per month (2%); city tours under £20 (2%); and the cost of coworking spaces (2%).

Using the data - collected from Numbeo, Tripadvisor, and Coworker - they then calculated ‘affordability scores’ for each city. Perhaps unsurprisingly, London had the lowest score by quite a large margin at just 34.14. Oxford was not much in 97th place, while Edinburgh sat at 91st; Cambridge at 90th; Manchester at 86th; Bristol at 72nd; Sheffield at 67th, and Cardiff at 48th.

But which cities and towns worked out the most affordable for students? Here’s what they found:

With secondary school finishers last week wrapping up their A-Level exams, many will now be looking towards heading off to university in Autumn. And with dozens of universities and campuses where you can study towards your degree spread right across the UK, there are options aplenty - including many cities where it will be much more affordable to be a student than the likes of London.

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