Being a student can be expensive. You’ll likely be spending over £9,000 on your tuition each year alone. By the time you graduate, you could owe over £50,000 and even more if you are an international student.
During your studies, your biggest expense will be your accommodation. This is because for many, tuition fees are covered by a student loan, and you only start to pay this back once you’ve graduated.
To help, the team at Accommodation for Students has used their years of experience in helping students find accommodation to put together this comprehensive guide. We have included everything you may need to budget for ranging from your rent, to bills, to your weekly food shop.
How much will it cost to rent student accommodation?
The largest part of your accommodation costs will be your rent. In the UK, it has become increasingly popular to rent accommodation, with prices increasing over the years. The good news is you have plenty of choice, with a range of different accommodation options being available. This means you should be able to find something within your budget.
‘Average’ rents
Our data found that you can look to pay around £139 per week for a shared house. Alternatively, university halls are likely to cost around £199 per week whilst a studio may charge £257 per week.
However, some cities will inevitably cost more. For instance, the average weekly cost of rent for students in London is £339.
Nevertheless, there is always accommodation available to suit different budgets. It will just depend on three factors: location, the type of accommodation and timing.
Location
There is a huge variation in accommodation price between the most expensive university cities and the least expensive.
It is also important to be aware that there is variation of rental prices within cities. Therefore it is possible to:
- Find a relatively low cost property in an expensive city.
- Rent an expensive place in a cheap city.
Therefore doing your research is also a good way to make sure you find something within your budget. You can find detailed city guides on our website.
Type of accommodation
The type of accommodation you choose will also impact on your budget. In short, if you are looking for the lowest cost option a house or flat share is the best way to go. This can cost you as little as £78 per week. However, halls of residence are likely to cost you more money, with private halls being even more due to the range of amenities and facilities they have to offer. This is why it’s key to determine your budget before you start looking for accommodation.
Timing
The final factor to consider is timing. The earlier in the year that you start looking for a place to live, the wider the pool of options you will have. Broadly speaking, in most university cities if you start your search in January you will have access to the full range of accommodation that will be available in the following September.
The later you leave the search the fewer options you will have when it comes to price. It is important to bear this in mind when you are thinking about budgeting, but equally important not to rush into making a decision until you are sure you have found the right place for you.
Additional costs of renting a property
While rent is going to be the biggest expense associated with your accommodation, there are other costs to consider.
Deposits
In the strict sense, deposits are not costs, as they are refundable and you should be aiming to conduct your tenancy in a way which will ensure you get them back. However, when you are budgeting you will need to at least factor this expenditure in. There are two types of deposit:
- Tenancy deposit
- Holding deposit
Tenancy Deposit
The tenancy deposit is money which is collected by the landlord which is generally held in the event that you breach your tenancy agreement. This is normally to cover things like unpaid rent or damage to the property.
The amount you have to pay will vary depending on the rent. In a shared house the tenancy deposit is usually one month’s rent and will be capped at 5 weeks (unless your rent is more than £50,000 per year!)
Halls of Residence operate slightly differently. In most cases you will be asked to pay a booking fee when you reserve the property, which will be converted to a deposit when you move in.
In most cases the landlord should protect your deposit in a tenancy deposit scheme and, assuming that you have been a good tenant, you should receive it back at the end of the tenancy! If you do not get it back and you feel that is unfair then you should solve the dispute with your landlord. As a last resort, you can appeal to whichever tenancy deposit scheme your landlord has used.
Holding Deposit
The holding deposit is the money you pay to a landlord or agent to signify that you are serious about renting the property. You will pay this type of deposit before you sign the tenancy agreement and complete any of the checks that are required, such as the referencing.
This type of deposit is also refundable, however you may lose the holding deposit if you do not go through with the tenancy. If you do progress, the landlord or agent will generally use this as part of your contribution to your tenancy deposit or towards your first month of rent. You can expect to pay anywhere between £100 and £500 for this.
The maximum that can be charged is one week’s rent and holding deposits are not legal in Scotland.
UK Guarantor
The final cost that is associated with your rent is the provision of a UK based guarantor. Most student rentals will require you to provide the details of a UK based guarantor when you sign the tenancy agreement.
This guarantor will be responsible for making sure that you conduct your tenancy properly and in particular be responsible for paying your rent if you don’t pay it. If you don’t have access to a UK based guarantor you may:
- Pay all or some of your rent in advance (in halls of Residence)
- Use a guarantor company
Now that you have secured the property and accounted for the major costs associated with moving in and paying your rent, the next thing you will need to consider are the costs you will have when living in your accommodation.
To find out more about deposits and guarantors, read our ultimate renting guide.
How much will it cost to live in my accommodation?
Bills
The next most important cost to account for are your utility bills. Broadly speaking these include: energy, water, internet and your tv licence.
If you are moving into halls of residence, whether private or university operated, the majority of these costs will be covered within the rent, which is one reason that the headline rent figure is more expensive for these types of properties.
Note: While your hall of residence will have a TV licence to enable you to watch TV in communal areas, it won’t cover you for watching in your room. However, your parents’ licence will cover you in your room if you are watching TV on a laptop or tablet. If you plan to take your TV with you, to watch in the comfort of your room, you will need a licence and it will cost you around £175 for the year.
It is also worth knowing that some halls will charge something for the broadband service. This may be a connection fee or an upgrade fee – for example to get access to a better standard of broadband.
Utilities in a house share
If you are looking for a houseshare then it is more likely that you will need to consider the cost of utilities. It is difficult to give a specific budget for these bills because they are generally associated with the amount you use them. You can gather a quote from Fused to find out how much it may cost you.
In addition to understanding how much the bills are, it is important to know who is going to pay these bills. Many groups of students sharing a house set up a shared bank account, with each member of the household contributing their share, to make sure that there is not one person responsible for all of the bills.
To make this even easier there are lots of bill splitting apps out there, which enable you to easily share the household bills between you. It is also worth considering Fused who are a company that enables students to easily share household bills between them. If you sign up to Fused you pay them your share of the bills each month and they take care of the rest.
The good thing about them is that it means you are only ever responsible for your share of bills. This can be reassuring, particularly if you have had difficulty getting someone to pay their share in the past.
Travelling from your accommodation to university
The next part of your budget is also location dependent. While we noted above that some of the more expensive accommodation options, like halls, are generally well located next to the university, the cheaper options may be a reasonable distance away. If you choose this option you will need to travel using public transport.
You can expect to pay around £67 per month on travel, with this likely being higher in London.
The amount that you spend on travel will vary with the distance you live from the university and the further away you live the more money you will spend on getting around. Some universities do offer free or subsidised travel for students so it’s worth exploring if this is the case for you. You could also walk or cycle whenever possible to cut costs.
What other costs do I need to budget for?
While accommodation and its related costs are your biggest expense, there are several other major costs that you will need to budget for. These are more related to your general costs of living, so the examples we have included in this guide are very much an average picture of what you can expect to spend. Including rent and bills, the average student estimated that they spend over £1,100 per month. This includes spending on groceries, socialising, course materials and subscriptions.
Given that some of these are discretionary spend areas you will have some control over them, in that you could choose to spend less on your living costs and therefore reduce your outgoings. Furthermore, each area will vary with location – as you may now expect to hear, the amount you spend in London will be quite a lot more than in the rest of the UK.
How can I save money at university?
Despite it seeming like there are many costs associated with being a student, you can actually still save or spend less.
Get a part time job
This is a double win, because while you are working you won’t be spending money, plus you earn money to help pay for all of these things we have listed. Of equal importance is the valuable experience you will gather through this work. This is something you can add to your CV before you graduate. Good quality work experience will make you much more attractive to potential employers.
In today’s modern flexible workforce students are much in demand in part time roles and it is relatively easy to find some work. A good place to start is your Students’ Union who will employ a large number of students on flexible, part-time contracts. Most universities also offer a jobs board which will promote part time opportunities directly to you.
Saving Money
In addition to making money through part time work, there are lots of ways that students can save money. Students are prime targets for discounts and there are a number of different places you can find these, they are:
You’ll also find many independent places will offer student discounts so it’s worth carrying around your student ID with you whenever you go out.