These 20 UK unis are way more affordable for students than Russell Group unis in 2025

University is just objectively really expensive in the UK. Rent costs a small fortune, tuition fees are going up, and students still need cash for essentials such as blue VKs and caramel lattes. New research has revealed the most affordable 20 unis in the UK – and none of them are Russell Group. Yikes. I guess we shouldn’t have been so stressed about getting into one.

Solar Tuition analysed how affordable 133 different universities in the UK are. They looked at how much students at each uni are spending on rent, food, travel and (most importantly) pints, then weighed that up against the average grad salaries for each uni, to see whether that uni is good value for money. They came up with an “affordability score” for all the UK unis.

The University of Buckingham is apparently the most affordable uni in the UK. Grads from there have a high average salary of £35,456, but the cost of living in Buckingham is less than in lots of cities with Russell Group unis. Quite a few smaller and more specialist unis turn out to be much better value for money. Harptury University and the University of Wales Trinity St David both have limited ranges of courses, but have campuses in cheaper rural areas, so turn out to be good value for money in the long-run.

So, here are the 20 most affordable UK unis, ranked by Solar Tuition’s affordability scores:

20. Aberystwyth University – 73.75 affordability score

19. Loughborough University – 73.73 affordability score

18. University of Bolton – 74.0 affordability score

17. University of Central Lancashire – 74.01 affordability score

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16. University of Bedfordshire – 74.04 affordability score

15. University of Huddersfield – 74.18 affordability score

14. Queen Margaret University – 74.61 affordability score

13. University of Derby – 74.65 affordability score

12. University of Leicester – 74.76 affordability score

11. De Montfort University – 74.87 affordability score

10. Liverpool Hope University – 74.88 affordability score

9. University of Bradford – 74.98 affordability score

8. University of Suffolk – 75.37 affordability score

7. Sheffield Hallam University – 75.55 affordability score

I will never be over these buildings at Sheffield Hallam
(Credit: Chemical Engineer via Creative Commons)

6. Edge Hill University – 75.68 affordability score

5. University of Hull – 75.73 affordability score

4. University of Staffordshire – 75.81 affordability score

3. University of Wales Trinity St David – 75.86 affordability score

2. Hartpury University – 75.99 affordability score

1. University of Buckingham – 80.41 affordability score

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