How rich each Russell Group uni will make you

Going to Oxford, Cambridge and the London unis will make you richer than going to other Russell Group institutions like Cardiff and Warwick. 

Oxford graduates’ average household incomes are £75,900, coming out higher than those for Cambridge graduates’ households at £68,000.

Grads from Oxford also had the highest average savings (£64,700) and the highest average house value (£243,000). Lowly York failed to line it’s grads pockets: scoring bottom for mean savings (£29,900) and mean house value (£158,000).

The findings come from the Great British Class Survey. It examined the association between social background, university attended and social position for over 85,000 graduates.

We’ve used the data to examine how much money Russell Group grads using three measures: savings, house value and household income after tax.

There are some big differences in savings between graduates of different universities. Those who were at the highest status institutions like King’s, LSE and Bristol have savings equivalent to almost one whole year’s household income.

Even within the Russell Group there’s a clear hierarchy between grads from lower status unis with savings in the range of £30,000 to £40,000, as opposed to the £60,000-plus for Oxbridge graduates.

Generally those who study in the south go on to become wealthier than those who study in the north, Wales, Northern Ireland or Scotland.

What emerges from the findings is that attending a Russell Group uni is likely to make you well off, but attending a distinctive, elite group of Oxford, Cambridge and the London universities will make you rich.