Only 19 per cent of UCL students are working class

It’s one of the lowest percentages in the country


University seems to be a place where loads of whiney students hang around complaining about all of the money they don’t have, and how real the struggle therefore is. We’re all guilty of it.

Well, contrary to how ‘broke’ we all claim to be, a recent study from HESA has shown that UCL has one of the smallest communities of working-class students in the country.

According to data, only 19 per cent of UCL students are technically ‘working class’, meaning we have the 13th smallest percentage of working-class students out of all of the universities in the UK. When the average cost for UCL self-catered halls this year is £186 per week, it’s hardly surprising.

£206 a week for this glorious pit x

The University of Oxford has the smallest number of working-class students, making up only 10 per cent of their student population. Naturally, Cambridge barely came behind this at 10.2 per cent. King’s came in 42nd place, with 26.2 per cent of their students being working class.

The unis with the highest numbers of working-class students were at De Montfort, Liverpool Hope and Southampton Solent University, where all three institutions have over 43 per cent of students falling into the working-class category.

No uni, however, has a working-class majority. ‘Skint’ as we may feel, therefore, maybe it’s time to bit more sensitive to what having ‘no money’ can actually mean for people.