Revealed: The shockingly high amounts of money each Russell Group uni made in 2024

I know we shouldn’t make broad generalisations. But as a general rule, UK unis are rather strapped for cash in 2024. Several are sacking staff and dropping whole departments in desperate attempts to not go broke. But the boujie Russell Group unis are still raking in loads of cash in 2024. This is mostly because they have loads of money tied up in centuries-old investments, which keep making them money year on year.

Here’s exactly how much money all the Russell Group unis made in 2024. You can check precisely how loaded your uni is! *Jazz hands* Remember: Their total net assets is mostly made up from money tied up in land and investments. Tragically, your uni doesn’t quite have a spare billion sitting in a bank account ready to splash on students.

This info comes from the annual financial reports on all the Russell Group unis’ websites. Six out of 24 unis haven’t published their financial statements for the 2023/2024 year yet – Cardiff University, Durham University, the University of Edinburgh, Newcastle University, the University of Oxford and Queen’s University Belfast. This article will be updated as soon as their reports come out. If you’re still nosey about the other 18, then read on!

So, here are all the Russell Group unis ranked by how much their total net assets increased from the 2022/2023 year to the 2023/2024 year.

18. University of York – £125,465,000

York students are still smiling despite the demise of that famous duck in 2024
(Credit: Alexa Francis)

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The University of York made the least money out of any Russell Group uni in 2024. And by a long way, too. York Uni is getting creative with their cost-cutting measures. As well as a staff redundancy scheme, they’ve shut receptions across their campuses, and lowered the entry requirements in an attempt to lure more international students. Their ideas seem to be working, though. Their total net assets still increased from 398,087,000 to 523,552,000.

17. University of Exeter – £184,578,000

Exetaaaaaaah actually made loads of money in 2024? The uni’s net assets have shot up from £450,069,000 to £634,647,000.

16. Queen Mary University of London – £193,813,000

The uni now has total net assets of £856,503,000. This is up from the £662,690,000 it had in 2023.

15. University of Liverpool – £203,800,000

Liverpool’s total net assets went from £673,200,000 to £877,000,000

14. University of Birmingham – £206,283,000

Brum’s total net consolidated assets jumped from £1,128,409,000 in 2023 to £1,334,692,000.

13. University of Nottingham – £210,000,000

Presumably these Notts students are here to celebrate the high investment turnover ratio on the University of Nottingham’s consolidated assets in the last fiscal year
(Credit: Emily Woollerson)

Notts’s net worth went up from £625,900,000 to £835,900,000.

12. The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) – £215,624,000

Funnily enough, the London School of Economics seems to alright at economics. The uni’s total net assets were £793,222,000 in 2023, and are now £1,008,846,000.

11. University of Southampton – £245,154,000

The blandest Russell Group uni of all has gone from having £697,395,000 to 942,549,000.

10. University of Sheffield – £266,300,000

It’s not exactly a secret that the University of Sheffield is struggling with its finances. They’re trying to get rid of enough staff to save £23 million. However, the uni’s overall assets still increased last year from 1,628,100,000 to 1,894,400,000.

9. Imperial College London – £286,500,000

Imperial has had a rather good year. Their assets have gone from £1,766,000,000 to £2,052,500,000.

8. University of Warwick – £289,800,000

Warwick’s uni’s assets have gone up a mad amount. They’ve gone from £481,600,000 in 2023 to £771,400,00 in 2024. That’s a 60 per cent increase

7. University of Bristol – £324,900,000

Bristol now has total assets of £1,593,800,000. That’s up from £1,268,900,000 last year.

6. University of Glasgow – £334,400,000

Side point, but how vibey does the Christmas market in Glasgow look?
(Credit: Ellie Swindlehurst)

Glasgow’s total net assets went from £1,092,700,000 to £1,427,100,000.

5. University of Manchester – £343,429,000

The uni’s assets went from £1,886,278,000 in 2023 to £2,229,707,000 in 2024.

4. King’s College London – £348,163,000

King’s now has total net consolidated assets of £1,669,018,000. That’s up from £1,320,855,000 in 2023.

3. University of Leeds – £368,609,000

The Uni now has £1,263,289,000 squirreled away. It had £894,680,000 this time last year.

2. University College London (UCL) – £597,400,000

UCL has about 2,000 less students than it did last year, but it’s making plenty of money from all its investments. Its net worth skyrocketed from £1,622,200,000 to £2,219,600,000

1. University of Cambridge – £823,300,000

Surprise surprise, Cambridge is loaded. The uni’s finances went up by a whopping £823,300,000. Cam’s total net assets were £7,167,700,000 in 2023, and are now £7,991,000,000. Remember – the many, many Cambridge colleges all have their own investments as well. Several Cambridge colleges are richer than many of the Russell Group unis in their own right.

Featured image credit: Brit in Seoul via Creatived Commons. Image was cropped.