All the Russell Group unis ranked by how deeply unaffordable they are in 2025

Surprise, surprise. Going to uni in 2025 is a very spenny undertaking. Tuition fees are rising, rent is sky-high, and a caramel latte in 2025 can easily set you back five quid. Tragic. Lots of Russell Group unis are becoming less and less affordable in 2025 – partially because so many happen to be in cities which are really expensive to exist in.

Solar Tuition researched which UK universities are the least affordable for students in 2025. They weighed up the average grad salaries for each uni with the cost of living in that area, then calculated an “affordability score” for each uni. Spoiler: lots of Russell Group unis do not come off particularly well.

The University of Sheffield is officially the most affordable Russell Group uni to live in. Food and transport are much cheaper than in other places – apparently a big shop in Sheffield for one person is generally just £25.14.

At the other end of the scale, the five Russell Group unis in London were deemed the five least affordable. The cost of student accommodation in the capital is somewhat ridiculous.

Oxbridge is apparently also quite bad value for money. Cambridge and Oxford are both pretty expensive places to live. Plus, some Oxbridge students are actively discouraged from getting part-time jobs during term time. This makes it way harder to cover the cost of your degree.

So, here are the least affordable Russell Group unis in 2025 (according to Solar Tuition):

24. University of Sheffield – 72.0 affordability score

23. University of Liverpool – 69.7 affordability score

22. University of Leeds – 69.5 affordability score

21. Newcastle University – 68.1 affordability score

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20. University of Warwick – 67.5 affordability score

19. Cardiff University – 67.1 affordability score

18. University of Nottingham – 66.8 affordability score

17. University of Edinburgh – 66.4 affordability score

=15. University of Bristol – 66.3 affordability score

=15. Queen’s University Belfast – 66.3 affordability score

14. University of Southampton – 66.0 affordability score

13. University of Exeter – 65.5 affordability score

12. University of York – 65.3 affordability score

11. University of Glasgow – 65.2 affordability score

Side point, but Glasgow has such an underrated campus

=9. Durham University – 64.0 affordability score

=9. University of Manchester – 64.0 affordability score

8. University of Cambridge – 63.4 affordability score

7. University of Oxford – 61.6 affordability score

6. University of Birmingham – 60.1 affordability score

5. Imperial College London – 56.0 affordability score

=3. King’s College London – 54.5 affordability score

=3. Queen Mary University of London – 54.5 affordability score

2. London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) – 53.0 affordability score

1. University College London (UCL) – 51.8 affordability score

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