By Hazel Shearing
Education correspondent
Exams are about to start, with hundreds of thousands of students hoping to secure a place at university.
Getting a degree is expensive, but does uni pay for itself through higher future earnings?
How much are tuition fees?
One of the biggest costs of going to university is the course itself.
Most students take out loans to pay for their undergraduate tuition.
The annual cost for UK students varies:
- England: £9,250
- Wales: £9,250
- Northern Ireland: £4,750 for Northern Irish students, or £9,250 for other UK students
- Scotland: Free for the majority of Scottish students, and £9,250 for other UK students
What does student accommodation cost?
Average annual rent rose from £6,520 in 2021-22 to £7,475 in 2023-24, according to research by the Higher Education Policy Institute (Hepi) and housing charity Unipol. The figures do not include London and Edinburgh.
Student rents are particularly high in some cities like Bristol and Nottingham, where the average cost was £9,200 and £8,427 respectively.
Hepi warned that maintenance loans in England now only just cover average rent. It said that without family support or part-time work, students “will have no money to live off” after housing costs.
If you are leaving home to study, it is generally cheaper to live in university-owned accommodation.
In 2021-22 (the latest UK-wide figures available) average rent for university-owned rooms ranged from £6,471 in England to £4,565 in Northern Ireland.
Students also need to budget for other big expenses, such as food, transport, course materials and going out.
Research by the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (Ucas), based on a survey of about 500 respondents, suggests that students spent £219 per week on average in late 2022.
More than half of students had a job last year, according to Hepi.
How do student loans work?
Most UK students are eligible for a tuition fee loan.
Maintenance loans are also available, for living costs.
These are means-tested, so the amount you get depends on your family’s income.
The maximum maintenance loan if you live away from home and outside of London ranges from £10,227 in England to £6,776 in Northern Ireland in 2024/25.
You are charged interest on yourtotal loan from the day you take it out. Eligibility and repayment rules differ across the UK.
Loan repayment rules changed in England last year. You’re likely to pay back more, over a longer period of time, than people who went to university earlier.
The government says new students “will not repay more than they originally borrowed over the lifetime of their loans, when adjusted for inflation”.
But Martin Lewis, of MoneySavingExpert.com, said extending the repayment period would increase “costs by thousands” for lower and mid earners.
What extra financial help can students get?
Eligible students in Wales and Northern Ireland can claim maintenance grants which are not repaid.
Full-time undergraduates normally resident in Wales are entitled to at least £1,000. There is up to £10,124 for students from the poorest backgrounds who study in London.
The Scottish government offers financial support to certain categories of students, such as those with dependants.
Across the UK, students in financial difficulty can apply for hardship funding and they may also be entitled to financial assistance from charities.
Will I earn more money?
Most students will leave university owing money.
The Student Loans Company says graduates in England leave university with average debts of £44,940.
In general, most graduates can expect to earn more than non-graduates, according to the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA).
However, it suggests the extra money earned from a university education has declined.
According to HESA’s survey of 2020-21 graduates, the average salary reported 15 months after gaining a degree was £29,699.
Earnings also depend on the subject studied and university attended.
Research by the IFS think tank in England suggests, on average, women who studied creative arts and languages degrees earned the same amount in their lifetime as if they had not gone to university.
Women who studied law, economics or medicine earned over £250,000 more during their career than if they had not got a degree.
Men who studied creative arts on average earned less across their lifetimes than if they had not attended university. Male medicine or economics graduates earned £500,000 more.
Attending university can help students from poorer backgrounds earn more than their parents might have done, according to research by education charity the Sutton Trust in England.
But only a fifth of graduates who were eligible for free school meals went on to be in the top 20% of earners – compared to almost half of graduates who attended private schools.
The Sutton Trust says attending a selective university, like a Russell Group university, gives young people the “best chance of being socially mobile”.
