The top 50 most affordable university towns

Emma Finamore
29 Jul 2018

If you’re heading off to university this September, check out where your new town rates in the affordability stakes.

Placeholder — London universities were shown to be the least affordable, mostly due to higher-than-average accommodation costs.

New research has revealed the top 50 most affordable university towns across the UK and puts the University of Warwick in first place with London universities taking the bottom eight spots.

The Free Credit Report and comparison specialists looked at the Sunday Times Good University Guide 2018 to rank their top 50 universities in order: from most affordable, to least.

The research considers the weekly rent of university halls, cinema ticket price, monthly gym membership cost, cappuccino cost, meal cost, the price of a pint at Wetherspoon, the cost of a doner kebab, and the price of a cab from the town centre to the university.

Taking the top three

Taking first place is the University of Warwick, with a weekly rent of just £72, and cinema ticket and pint costs of £6.50 and £2.39 respectively. It also has the second cheapest kebab cost at £3.99.

The University of East Anglia takes second place, which has the cheapest weekly rent at £54. However, it’s slightly higher costs for everything else pushes it further down the rankings.

Third place is Swansea University, which performs well due to its reasonably priced £20 gym memberships, and weekly hall rent of £89. The cost of a pint is also at the lower end of the scale at £2.19.

Students looking for more beer for their buck should head to Keele University, which has the cheapest pint price at £1.99.

Least affordable London

London universities were shown to be the least affordable, mostly due to higher-than-average accommodation costs. All seven of the London universities surveyed ranked in the bottom eight.

Last was London’s Royal Holloway, which has the highest weekly halls rent of £169, and the highest cab fare at £43.

Second from last was King’s College, which has a slightly cheaper weekly rent of £150. However, pints were the most expensive of all those surveyed at £3.85.

The top five most affordable universities

1. University of Warwick

The University of Warwick takes first place, with a weekly university hall rent of £72. It also has the second cheapest kebab cost at £3.99. You can’t help but call into question the quality of such a cheap kebab, but does this really matter on a night out?

2. University of East Anglia

While the weekly rent at the University of East Anglia is the lowest overall at £54, the UEA has higher costs elsewhere, pushing it down to second place. A pint only sets you back a not-too-shabby £2.75, though.

3. Swansea University

If you’re the kind of person who puts the “stud” in “studying”, head to Swansea University, which takes third place. Gym memberships cost just £20, and pints are only £2.19, ready for you to undo all your hard work.

4. University of Bath

Although the University of Bath has relatively low housing and cinema costs (£70 and £10 respectively), it’s higher prices elsewhere means it takes fourth place overall. While meals out and cabs home cost more, students will be relieved to know the price of pints remains stable, at £2.29.

5. Keele University

Students looking for more beer for their buck should head to Keele and pay a paltry £1.99. That’s five pints for a tenner, with change to spare. Enough to make you Keele over. University hall rents are just £85 per week and, while no means the cheapest, are still nearly half the price London’s Royal Holloway.

To see the full 50 check out the list here.

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