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The living costs of your postgraduate studies

The living costs of your postgraduate studies

It’s hard to give a precise figure for the living costs of your postgraduate studies, since it depends on your needs and lifestyle.

However, we suggest you should think in terms of a minimum of £12,500 for a single person on campus, per year, to cover accommodation, food, personal expenses, study-related costs and some limited travel.

International students will also need to take into account various settling-in expenses, including travel to and within the UK, visas and travel and health insurance.

Where does your money go?

  • Accommodation costs on campus (38-week UG contract) - £123-£220 a week
  • (50-week postgraduate contract) - £133-£206
  • Accommodation costs off campus (within 30 mins of campus) - £120-160 a week*
  • Travel costs of commuting to campus (depending on location) - £0-£30 a day
  • Essential living costs (food, toiletries, clothes, personal items) - £100 a week
  • Utilities (gas, electricity, water, broadband) - £70 a week**
  • Mobile phone - £10 per week
  • Societies, sports and entertainment - £50-£100 a week
  • Books, stationery and course-related costs - £500 a year

*Based on average prices of 3 students in a three-bedroom shared house

** Utilities are included in on-campus accommodation

More information for commuting

For a clearer idea of rent and travel costs you can use our calculator, which uses information from The Trainline.com, Transport for London and University of London Housing Guide.

To use the calculator just follow the steps below:

Step 1 - select a campus – Egham or central London

Step 2 - select the area you’ll be commuting from (town, city, village or London borough and/or first half of postcode)

Step 3 - hit search to see the average cost of rent and travel costs to campus.

You can also select Impact on academic progression as ‘green’ to find locations within 30-minutes of the campus.

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