Sheffield named most affordable UK city for students
Any guesses what the most expensive one is?!
Last updated 6th Aug 2021
Sheffield has been named as the most affordable city for students in the UK.
A study looked at 21 university cities, focusing on rent, socialising, bills and groceries.
In Sheffield, below-average rent prices, higher term-time incomes (of £1304.20), and lower costs for bills and groceries, mean students are left with £714 of disposable income per month.
London has been named as the most expensive for students. Term-time income of £965.50 and higher living costs leave them with just £80.20 of disposable income per money.
London also topped the most expensive place for a pint, with students paying £9.10 per drink, in comparison to Sheffield where students can expect to pay just £3.20.
Overall, students in the North are paying three times less for a pint than in London.
The NatWest Student Living Index also found that, in contrast to the previous years, students are spending more on clothes, shoes and accessories than on going out to gigs, theatres, and clubs – the spending on which has dropped by nearly a third.
Managing student finances across the UK...
Students at historic universities such as Edinburgh, Oxford and Durham were the most likely to rely on their parents or family for income. Edinburgh students received 53% more from this source than the UK average, working out at an extra £110 per month.
Glasgow students are the most likely to gain income from term-time work, along with Sheffield and Exeter while those studying at Oxford were the least likely.
Oxbridge students top the term-time income rankings, receiving nearly £240 more than the average UK student per month. York sits at the bottom of this list, whilst Glasgow has made significant increases of over 32% in student’s average monthly income from the previous year.
The increase in term-time income has brought with it a 5% rise in year-on-year spending. The majority of this continues to go towards supermarket food shopping, which now equates to almost two and a half times as much as any other source of spending, making up a fifth of total monthly expenditure.
When it came to budgeting, over half (55%) of students use an app to help manage their finances, with Exeter students being the most committed to saving, putting away 15% of their income each month compared to the 9% national average. Even so, more than one in four (27%) find themselves running out of money before the end of the month.
With COVID-19 causing universities across the UK to take teaching online, the research found that almost a third (31%) of students were very dissatisfied with the value of their online teaching this semester. Durham received the lowest ranking in terms of value for money and its students were the most likely to believe their ability to achieve their degree would be harmed due to the pandemic.
With a third of students moving to their university city before returning home in their first semester, over a third (38%) were offered either a rent break or reduction in rental fees. This was more likely to happen in Cambridge, where almost two in three (62%) students received a discount in a city where rents are among the highest in the UK at £578.70 per month. Glasgow was the least likely to offer a rent holiday, but also ranks the lowest for average rent price at £447.40.