Leicester announced as UK’s cheapest university

The University Of Leicester has come out as the most affordable place of study, for first and second years, in a recent HSBC survey.

On average, Leicester students pay around £196 per week as freshers, falling to £168 per week as second-years.

This makes Leicester the cheapest university to live in the UK for both years and over a massive 60 per cent cheaper than its London counterparts-UCL and Imperial.

Top 10 cheapest universities

This is good news for the incoming Leicester freshers who, according to the research, spend a weekly average of just £68 on essentials, £91 on uni halls and £8 on a bus pass.

More importantly for Freshers Week, the cost of drinks are also low in Leicester, with a weekly average spend of £15 for 5 pints and £14 for 2 bottles of wine.

All yours for just £91 per week

In comparison to Leicester, London students can expect to pay a massive £155 on weekly essentials, £21 on bus pass and £106 on uni halls, rising to £144 when they move to living in a student house.

But it’s not just London that Leicester leads for cheap living as close uni neighbours, Warwick, have a total weekly average cost of living £59 more expensive than Leicester just for their first year.

Leicester Student Union President, Michael Rubin, said the research showed “all students are on very tight budgets, wherever they live”.

He added that the results serve to highlight that Leicester students money goes further than for other uni students and said, “a cheaper location is great news for all those coming to the university.”

Feel bad that you didn’t get into Oxbridge? Don’t – Oxford and Cambridge Universities had high total costs of living and are the least cost-effective for 2nd years, outside of London.

Oxford students even had higher drinking bills than London, with an eye-watering average of £20.40 for 5 pints and £17.80 for 2 bottles of wine.

Leicester can enjoy cheaper rent and alcohol to other unis

However, despite the research being based on an average cost, when it comes to rent, HSBC have chosen one of the cheapest rooms available to use in the survey.

£91 a week in uni halls gives a standard single room such as those in GMS halls but a premium+ ensuite room, which make up the majority of John Foster halls, sets students back £144 a week.

The bus pass averages out at £8 a week in the survey but has to be bought as either a termly or annual ticket and paid for in an upfront sum of £155 or £350 respectively. This is too expensive for some, with many reliant on bikes and walking to get around the city.

Some rooms are bigger than others.

But 2nd year student, Becki Baker agreed with the research and thinks it’s something Leicester should be proud of.

She told The Tab, “I think it’s a cheap place to live. I used the cost of living in my decision to come to Leicester and in the current economic climate, students are definitely going to be more interested in going to a place where things are less expensive and they can have a great uni experience without spending a fortune.”