Living costs in the UK/Britain/England as an international student/worker


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The cost of living and studying in the UK


Sections:	Introduction
	Course costs
	One-off costs
	Regular costs
	Income
	RBS Student Living Index
	Links

INTRODUCTION

This section helps you to estimate the costs of living and studying in the UK. This can help you to manage your money effectively.

Students' Money Matters [updated each year]
Author: Gwenda Thomas
Publisher: Trotman
Date: June 2007

COURSE COSTS

Check the website of your school, college or university for details of the costs. You can compare the costs of different schools using the links in the Course section.

Most international students have to pay overseas fees, but if you live in the European Union you may be able to pay the lower home fees. UKCISA produce guidance notes "Fees and student support": http://www.ukcisa.org.uk/student/information_sheets.php. You can check your likely fee status at the DfES (Department for Education and Skills) site: http://www.dfes.gov.uk/international-students.

The table below gives a very approximate guide to the costs of courses:

	Cost for 1 week			Cost for 1 year
	Cheap	Average	Expensive	Cheap	Average	Expensive
Full-time course (1)	£50	£100	£200	£2,000	£4,000	£8,000
Intensive course (2)	£75	£150	£300	£3,000	£6,000	£12,000

Notes:
(1) Full-time course: 15 hours per week at a language school, or a pre-degree or diploma couse. The language school is assumed to be one that is recognised by the British Council.
(2) Intensive course: 25 hours per week at a language school, on a HND course, or taking an undergraduate or postgraduate degree course.

Weekly costs shown are average weekly numbers, assume that you enrol on a couse for a whole year. The average weekly cost may be higher for shorter courses.
Costs for 1 year assume 40 weeks of classes, and 12 weeks of holiday. It is assumed that you are paying overseas fees.

The cheapest language schools in London advertise courses for less than 400 pounds for a full-time course (15 hours per week) for an academic year (36 weeks), but the quality of the teachers and facilities is not always high in such schools. Note that there is a risk that you will lose your money if the school goes bankrupt, and it is possible that you will not be given a student visa if the immigration authorities are not satisfied that the school is genuine.

For details of tuition costs for international students at universities/colleges in the UK, see: http://www.lse.u-net.com.
For information based on an annual survey of institutions which are members of UniversitiesUK, see: http://www.universitiesuk.ac.uk.

You may try to apply for a scholarship if one is available. See: Course for details.

Check when your course fees need to be paid and which payment methods are allowed. Note that there may be a delay before you will be able to open a bank account in the UK.

When you pay for course fees, find out what will happen if the agent or school goes bankrupt after you have paid for your course. Always be careful about who you are paying and make sure that you are given a receipt.

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ONE-OFF COSTS

As well as your course costs (see above) there are other one-off costs (this means costs which you only have to pay once, not regularly) which you may have to pay if you are travelling to the UK. Make a note of the ones which apply to you and estimate the total cost of these.

	Cost
Visa application fee (see: Prepare/Visa)	(for visa nationals; multiple entry visa more expensive)
Travel insurance (see Prepare/Planning)	(depends on length of your stay)
Medical insurance (see: Personal/Health)	(note: free public healthcare if you study for over 6 months)
Post/baggage to/from the UK (see: Life/Post)	(depends on how much you want to take and bring back)
Registration with police (see: Prepare/Arrival)	about £35 (only if required to register)
Travel: to/from airport in your country	(depends on distance from your hometown to the airport)
Return flight to the UK (see: Travel/Transport/Air)	(depends on distance from your home country to the UK)
Travel: from/to airport in UK(see: Travel/Transport)	(depends on distance from airport to your town in the UK)
Television licence (see: Prepare/Arrival)	about £130 for colour TV licence (in 2006)
Television	£50 for second-hand portable colour TV
Mobile phone (see: Life/Telephone/Mobile)	between £50 and £100 (pay-as-you-go phone)
English exam (see: English/Exams)	about £100 (if not included in course cost)

You will probably have to pay a deposit when you move in to your accommodation. This is usually the same amount as about 4 weeks of rent (see below for a guide to accommodation costs). It should be returned to you at the end of your stay unless you have damaged the property in some way. For more information, see: Life/Accommodation/Guide.

REGULAR COSTS

The following table shows estimated basic weekly living costs for a student (in £).
Numbers are only approximate; there can be very big differences according to where you live and your lifestyle.
Note that course costs and other one-off costs are not included in these tables.
Remember the exchange rate between your currency and the pound may change while you are staying in the UK.

Cheap (£6,000 per year)
These costs may be relevant if you live close to your school outside London or south-east England, or if you live in student accommodation at a university. It may be difficult to live comfortably in London on this budget

Average (£9,000 per year)
These costs may be relevant if you are a language student in London, living in cheap accommodation in a reasonably central location (within zone 2), and using a 'youth' weekly travel pass (for zones 1 and 2). It may also represent the costs of a student with a more expensive lifestyle at a school outside London or south-east England

Expensive (£12,000 per year)
These costs may be relevant if you live in basic accommodation in a more expensive area in central London or south east England

	Cost for 1 week			Cost for 1 year
	Cheap	Average	Expensive	Cheap	Average	Expensive
Accommodation (1)	£50	£75	£100	£2,500	£3,750	£5,000
Food (2)	£30	£40	£50	£1,500	£2,000	£2,500
Travel (3)	£5	£15	£25	£250	£750	£1,250
Entertainment (4)	£10	£20	£30	£500	£1,000	£1,500
Other (5)	£15	£25	£35	£750	£1,250	£1,750
Total	£120	£180	£240	£6,000	£9,000	£12,000

Notes:
(1) Accommodation: Rent; more if meals provided as part of rent. Includes gas/electricity
(2) Food: Normal living; less if meals provided as part of rent
(3) Travel: Local travel on bus/underground
(4) Entertainment: Cinema/eating out/sport
(5) Other: Books/telephone calls/clothing/insurance/personal hygiene

General living expenses may be about 25% greater in London than elsewhere
Note that costs may also be high in parts of south east England and areas close to London
As an approximate guide, for a couple living together add 50% to the cost of a person living on their own
For example, if the single person's annual cost is £8,000, the cost of living as a couple may be £12,000
As an approximate guide, for each child living with you add 25% of the cost of a person living on their own
For example, if the single person's cost is £8,000, the cost of a couple with two children might be £16,000 (£8,000 for the single person + 50% of £8,000 for the partner + 2 times 25% of £8,000 for the children)

For more detail on student living costs in the area where you are living, see the website of the university nearest to your school. Links to university websites can be found from: http://www.ucas.ac.uk/ukmap. Your costs may be higher than those shown for a British student, because it has probably been assumed that the British student will live with family during the holidays.

An annual report called the RBS Student Living Index provides information about average living costs and job earnings by university students in different parts of the UK. A copy of the latest report can be downloaded from this link:
http://www.rbs.co.uk/Personal_Finances/Current_Accounts/Student_Royalties

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INCOME

If you are a full-time student, your visa may allow you to work part-time (up to 20 hours per week). Many part-time jobs are paid close to the minimum wage, which from October 2007 is £5.52 per hour if you are over 22 (£5.73 from October 2008). This will leave you with an income of about £100 per week, but you may be paid less if income tax is being deducted (usually this money can be claimed back later, or you can arrange to pay just the correct amount of tax: see Work/Employment). From October 2007 the minimum wage if you are aged 18-21 is £4.60 per hour (£4.77 from October 2008).
For details of the minimum wage, see: http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/nmw.

You may be able to earn some interest on money which you bring to the UK, depending on what sort of account you open and the interest rates which are offered. For each 1% interest which you earn on each £1,000, you will receive £10 in interest over a period of 1 year. See Life/Money.

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RBS STUDENT LIVING INDEX

Each year the Royal Bank of Scotland conducts a financial survey of undergraduate students at various university towns across the UK. The table below shows results of the 2007 survey (based on an average sample size of about 100 students per location).

Rank	(A) Living costs		(B) Earnings		(C) Difference = A - B		(D) Ratio = A / B
1	Leicester	£135.67	London	£146.11	Leicester	£55.07	Leeds	1.46
2	Durham	£168.55	Brighton	£129.66	Leeds	£58.45	Brighton	1.59
3	Lancaster	£172.64	Leeds	£128.00	Dundee	£70.43	Dundee	1.62
4	Glasgow	£173.51	Dundee	£113.02	Liverpool	£71.00	London	1.65
5	Liverpool	£178.38	Birmingham	£109.76	Brighton	£76.93	Liverpool	1.66
6	York	£178.84	Liverpool	£107.37	Glasgow	£78.31	Leicester	1.68
7	Coventry	£180.40	Bristol	£105.79	Birmingham	£84.70	Birmingham	1.77
8	Newcastle	£180.97	Cambridge	£100.50	Newcastle	£85.46	Glasgow	1.82
9	Dundee	£183.44	Manchester	£97.91	Coventry	£85.73	Bristol	1.85
10	Sheffield	£185.89	Sheffield	£97.74	Durham	£87.34	Newcastle	1.89
11	Leeds	£186.45	St. Andrews	£97.28	Sheffield	£88.15	Sheffield	1.90
12	Cardiff	£190.08	Aberdeen	£96.56	Bristol	£89.84	Coventry	1.91
13	Belfast	£192.58	Newcastle	£95.51	Cambridge	£92.54	Cambridge	1.92
14	Cambridge	£193.04	Glasgow	£95.20	London	£95.14	St. Andrews	1.99
15	St. Andrews	£193.49	Coventry	£94.67	St. Andrews	£96.21	Manchester	2.03
16	Birmingham	£194.45	Oxford	£93.46	York	£98.08	Cardiff	2.07
17	Bristol	£195.63	Canterbury	£92.88	Cardiff	£98.35	Durham	2.08
18	Canterbury	£197.39	Cardiff	£91.73	Manchester	£100.86	Aberdeen	2.08
19	Manchester	£198.77	Belfast	£91.00	Belfast	£101.58	Belfast	2.12
20	Aberdeen	£200.51	Bath	£90.32	Lancaster	£101.90	Canterbury	2.13
21	Edinburgh	£201.27	Edinburgh	£88.11	Aberdeen	£103.95	York	2.21
22	Bath	£205.17	Durham	£81.21	Canterbury	£104.50	Bath	2.27
23	Brighton	£206.60	York	£80.76	Edinburgh	£113.16	Edinburgh	2.28
24	Southampton	£208.15	Leicester	£80.59	Bath	£114.85	Oxford	2.35
25	Nottingham	£211.15	Southampton	£79.79	Oxford	£126.63	Lancaster	2.44
26	Oxford	£220.09	Nottingham	£78.42	Southampton	£128.37	Southampton	2.61
27	London	£241.25	Lancaster	£70.73	Nottingham	£132.74	Nottingham	2.69
	[average]	£191.65	[average]	£98.32	[average]	£94.08	[average]	1.95

Notes:

(A) Living costs are weekly averages during term-time and include accommodation (rent, gas/electricity/water utility bills, telephone bills, laundry), shopping (food, clothes, alcohol, cigarettes), personal study costs (books and course materials, photocopying and library costs), entertainment (going out, eating out, CDs, DVDs) and transport. They do not include course tuition fees.

(B) Weekly average earnings during term-time, based on those students who have part-time jobs (about 40% of the students in the survey). The numbers depend on hourly wage rates and the number of hours worked. The average working time was 15.6 hours per week, and the average wage was about £6.30 per hour.

(C) This column shows the difference between living costs and earnings during term-time (a lower amount is better). Note that during holiday periods students may earn more if they work longer hours, and home students may have lower accommodation costs if they stay with their families and do not pay rent.

(D) This ratio (living costs / earnings) is used to produce the Student Living Index league tables (a lower ratio is better, in the sense that it indicates lower living costs or higher earnings).

For further information, see: http://www.rbs.co.uk/content/personal/current_accounts/student/downloads/RBS_Student_Living_Index.pdf

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LINKS

Opening and managing a UK bank account: Life/Money
Find a study course / scholarships: Course
Article about the cost of living as a student in the UK: Ideas/Articles/Cost

Home page: Home

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© UK Student Life 2002-2007

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