Budgeting for students is more important than ever. Living costs have been on the rise for years, with rent alone accounting for 73% of the maximum student loan. This is compared to 58% less than a decade ago.
If you’re heading to university for the first time later this year, establishing how much you’ll need to set aside to pay for your student digs is a smart move.
acasa is a student household management platform. In this blog, we detail the varying costs of student accommodation.
Halls vs student housing
Once upon a time, student halls were considerably cheaper than shared accommodation. However, the private sector now owns half of all student beds in the UK, meaning that prices have gone up. The average rental in a shared house is now more or less on par with student halls.
Nonetheless, the majority of first years start university life in self-catered student halls for the social aspect if nothing else. The average cost of first-year accommodation at Russell Group universities for the 2017-2018 academic year was £137/week, slightly above the national average student rent of £125/week.
However, there is a significant difference in the cost of student halls and rent between London and the rest of the UK.
London vs UK
If you don’t include London-based universities—London School of Economics (LSE), King’s College London, Imperial College London and Queen Mary University of London—in the cost of accommodation at Russell Group institutions, the average tumbles to just £122/week.
Meanwhile, the average between these four universities works out at a whopping £186/week. This is consistent with London’s higher property prices and could also be due to higher participation from the private sector.
Use a bill-splitting app
The last thing you want when managing the sky-high cost of living in student accommodation is to wind up paying for someone else’s share of the rent or bills because they can’t afford it just yet or haven’t budgeted properly. Normally, the other flatmates would be held responsible for that person’s inability to pay.
Thankfully, technology has come up with a solution. There are plenty of bill-splitting apps that bill each member of the household or student flat for their individual share, so no one is left out of pocket because of someone else.
Get acasa
acasa is a bill-splitting and household management platform designed for students. We pair our users with award-winning, affordable utilities providers and bill house sharers individually in a single student bills package. Discover acasa and get a quote for your household today.