Cardiff is officially the second cheapest place to be a student in the UK

Cardiff has been ranked the second most affordable place to be a student in the UK by the NatWest Student Index 2018, beating the likes of Oxford, Cambridge, Nottingham and Leeds.

Last year Cardiff was the number one cheapest place to go to university in the UK, however this year it has been pipped to the post by Hull.

The NatWest Student Living Index has surveyed almost 3,500 students from across the 35 most popular university cities in the UK to determine the most affordable place to study in the country.

They asked undergraduates a variety of questons, taking into consideration how much they spend on essentials such as rent, bills and food, and also how they organise their time so that they can work part-time jobs and afford to socialise as well as study.

It was found that Cardiff is the fifth most affordable place to rent a property in the UK with the average student rent in the capital costing £396.31 a month, whilst household bills came to just over £30 a month. Cardiff beats the UK average student rent which is estimated to be around £465.54 per month.

Cardiff is the fifth cheapest place to rent accomodation in the UK

It was found that the most expensive part of a Cardiff student's life was their food shop, and Cardiff students spend more than the UK average amount of money on going out and socialising- spending an average of £52.00 a month rather than the UK average of £46.00. Lets be honest it's probably because of all those VKs.

Additionally, it was found that students in Wales spend the most on alcohol per month, although, Cardiff spends the least on this compared with Swansea and Aberystwyth. It was also found that Cardiff students spend more hours working at part time jobs than those at other Welsh universities.

Cardiff may be the cheapest university in Wales, but I'm still in my overdraft.