As exams loom for hundreds of thousands of students, the costs associated with attending university are coming under scrutiny. For most students, tuition fees are the biggest expense, with undergraduates in England and Wales facing annual rates of £9,250, £4,750 (for Northern Irish students) or free (for the majority of Scottish students who study in Scotland). Students normally take out loans to cover this cost.
However, tuition fees are just the start of an expensive journey, with student accommodation costs also mounting up. According to research by the Higher Education Policy Institute (HEPI) and housing charity Unipol, average annual rent rose from £6,520 in 2021-22 to £7,475 in 2023-24 (not including London and Edinburgh). Hepi warned that maintenance loans in England may only just cover average rent, leaving students without family support or part-time work with no money to live off. Hepi also noted that student rents are particularly high in cities like Bristol and Nottingham, where the average cost was £9,200 and £8,427, respectively.
Given these steep costs, students may be wondering how they can fund their university studies. Most UK students are eligible for a tuition fee loan, while maintenance loans for living costs are also available. However, as these are means-tested, the amount received will be dependent on family income. Repayment rules differ throughout the UK; in England, for example, loan repayment rules changed last year, leading financial expert Martin Lewis to predict that “costs would rise by thousands” for lower and mid-earners.
Despite these challenges, universities are still seen as a great way to boost long-term earnings. Figures from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) show that, in general, most graduates can expect to earn more than non-graduates. HESA’s survey of 2020-21 graduates revealed that the average salary after gaining a degree was £29,699. That said, earnings also depend on the subject studied and the university attended.
Research by the IFS suggests that, on average, women who studied creative arts or languages degrees earned the same amount in their lifetime as if they had not gone to university. However, women who studied law, economics, or medicine earned over £250,000 more than if they had not obtained degrees. For men, those who studied medicine or economics earned £500,000 more on average than if they had not attended university. Only a fifth of graduates who were eligible for free school meals went on to achieve the top 20% of earners, compared to almost half of graduates who attended private schools
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