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Costs

To make an informed decision about uni, you need to understand how much it will cost and how you will pay for it.

It’s not just about tuition fees. You may have to pay for accommodation, course supplies, travel, clothes or large one-off purchases like a bike or a laptop. You should also think about other costs like socialising with friends.

Costs can vary depending on where you study. This is particularly the case for accommodation and other living costs.

Tuition fees

Unless you are a Scottish student studying in Scotland, you will need to pay tuition fees.

Your fees don’t just cover the cost of teaching you. They also go towards other things that the university or college needs to provide for you to complete your course. These include libraries, online learning facilities, student support services and course administration.

Tuition fees won’t vary much between courses unless you are considering a private university or college.

Other course costs

As well as books, there might be costs for field trips or materials. Some of these can be fixed, but sometimes they can vary significantly, for example, the costs of materials for a fine art course.

Where to find information

Universities and colleges publish how much their course fees are on their websites. They should show what the course fees cover and what additional costs are required on their course information pages. They should also give an indication of the cost of materials you’ll need to buy yourself, where this is relevant.

You can follow the ‘Course costs’ link on our course pages to find costs for the course on the university or college website.

If you are moving away for uni, you will need to pay accommodation costs.

Our Accommodation page gives more information on these costs.

The kind of things you might need to think about as well as your accommodation costs include:

  • Bills (utilities, phone, internet, music and tv, insurance)
  • Travel
  • Food and drink
  • Clothes
  • Personal care
  • Gym membership.

You might find the UCAS budget calculator or the MoneySavingExpert student budgeting planner helpful for planning.

See our How will I pay for it? section to find out about loans and grants and see what financial support you may be able to get.

There are also lots of ways you can keep costs down. The Complete University Guide has some ideas for how you can save money.

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