Student Living Index 2019

• Students in Cardiff get the best value for their money in 2019. They receive the third highest monthly income of £1,321.80, while enjoying the third lowest monthly rent, at £375.40, and low monthly living costs of £359.70.
• The students most likely to experience financial hardships are in London. The average monthly rent in London exceeds the national average by 44%, at £700 per month. Combined with living costs of £536.30 and an average term-time income of £1,197.20, this makes London the city with the worst value for money in 2019.
• Students of St. Andrews have the highest term-time income in Scotland, at £1,149.70.
• Term-time income has decreased in Hull and London, by £400 and £200 respectively. Despite this, average student rent has risen 5-15% in all South East student cities and London since last year.

For more student budgeting tips, visit our student finance and budgeting guide.

• Compared to 2018, students are spending an average of £15 less per month on their household bills, and there’s also been a decline in alcohol spend.*
• A pint in Stirling is half the price of a pint in Glasgow (£2.60) – in fact, Stirling has the cheapest price for a pint in the UK, where students expect to pay £1.30.
• Aberystwyth students move past Newcastle and Northumbria to become the biggest spenders on alcohol, forking out £50.80 per month. Students living in Glasgow are spending the most on alcohol of all Scottish cities, where they spend an average of £30.80 per month.
• Manchester remains the number one city for spend on fashion, with students there spending almost four times as much on fashion and clothing as those in Aberystwyth - £54.40 per month compared with £15.70.
• Students in Liverpool spend the most on a night out, with 22% having spent over £30 last time they went out. Edinburgh is the most expensive Scottish city for going out, where students are spending £28.60 per month.
• Students living in St Andrews spend the least on household bills, with an average monthly cost of £15.70, less than a third of what students in Hull are spending (£55.30).
• 64% of all UK students do not spend any of their income on academic studies.

*Excluding those who do not drink.

• Of the 64% of students that stick to a budget, 20% rely on a trusty Excel spreadsheet to keep track of their spending.
• Of the students who are able to put a little aside each month, 47% of student savers transfer any remaining money into a separate account, while only 9% use a tool or money saving app. A total of 32% don’t save anything.
• Students in London and Aberdeen manage to save the most, at £133.10 and £130.60 respectively. That’s over twice as much as students in Swansea (£53.10) and St Andrews (£44.80).
• Students in Aberdeen receive the best money management support from their university (11% of students). However, they still rank in the top four for students most stressed about managing their money (30% of students).
• 41% of all students don’t receive any type of student discount from their university.

• Oxbridge residents have topped the time spent on academic studies for the third year in a row. Students in Oxford also spend the most time socialising, spending 42 hours per month socialising and 119.9 hours per month studying.
• Students in St Andrews and Dundee came in the top five when it comes to hours spent studying, with students studying for an average of 99.8 and 90.7 hours a month respectively.
• Students living in Stirling are the most social in Scotland, with students socialising for an average of 37.8 hours per month.
• The average student spends 81 hours a month studying and 28 hours a month socialising. This is a 9 hour decrease in time spent studying and a 2 hour decrease in time spent socialising since 2018.
• 45% of students find their studies stressful, but 41% of students say they enjoy studying for their degree.

• Students in Stirling spend the most hours working a part-time job, while students in Durham spend the least at 27.3 hours and 6 hours per month respectively.
• Manchester offers the highest earnings from term-time work, where students are making an average of £167.70 per month. Reading offers the lowest earning potential with students only taking home £40.00 a month from term-time employment.
• For the second year in a row, Scotland features heavily in part-time hours worked, with three Scottish cities featuring in the top five (Stirling, Edinburgh, Aberdeen). This isn’t reflected in term-time money earned, with only one Scottish city featuring in the top five (Aberdeen -£157.60 per month).

When asked on a scale of 1 to 10, St Andrews has the highest number of students (47%) selecting 8, 9 or 10 when asked if they felt satisfied with their university’s mental health resources. Bristol ranked in last place with 14% of students feeling satisfied with the resources on offer.

71% of UK students said their university offered affordable health and wellbeing programs. The highest number of respondents who agreed were in Aberystwyth, at 94%, then Stirling came in second at 90%, while Poole has the lowest at 53%.

Students in Stirling and Aberdeen spend the most on fitness - three times more than in Belfast and Brighton.

More students are also reporting feeling stressed by the study requirements at university, with the average score on a scale of 1-10 moving from 6.9 in 2018 to 7 this year.