London rents are tight, prices and exchange rates are soaring, and people come to tell: How much does it cost to study in the UK?

The UK has always been a popular study abroad destination. So in this year, when prices are rising and renting is tight, how much does it cost to study in the UK? And how many hidden costs are there? In the following, Bund Jun specially invited several British students to talk about the new changes in the UK in the new semester, so as to help families who are interested in studying in the UK, plan well and avoid some detours.

Wen 丨 Zhuang Xiao ed

All images in this article were provided by interviewees

"Due to the sudden outbreak of war on the Asia-Europe route, many flights have been canceled, please confirm the status of tickets for each channel!"

After receiving the prompt on her mobile phone, N's mother casually forwarded the news about the renewed bloody conflict in the border area of Azerbaijan and Armenia to the parents of children staying in the UK, and then checked the ticket from Shanghai to the UK.

Since her daughter went to the UK to study alone two years ago, Ms N has been particularly sensitive to international news and has become more aware of changes in the UK exchange rate.

Seeing that the pound recently broke the 9th mark at its highest, N's mother, who has always been calm, couldn't help but "complain" to the Bund Jun: "This number has become a little uncute now."

In N's mother's impression, the lovely pound exchange rate is still stuck last year. The pound was hovering at the edge of breaking 8 at its lowest. Now that a year has passed, the fixed cost of studying in the UK for N's mother's daughter, the exchange rate alone, has increased a lot compared with last year.

Trend chart of the GBP/CNY exchange rate

At present, British high schools are opening applications for autumn recruitment in 2024. There is no doubt that a new group of international students will set foot on British soil, and the number of students in major universities will also reach new highs.

So what is the cost of studying in the UK in the new year? What are the hidden expenses? What difficulties will future international students encounter in life and study?

The Bund Jun specially invited N mother and two British students. Although their experience cannot cover all parts of the UK, it can still reveal how much it costs to study in the UK, help families who are interested in studying in the UK, plan ahead and avoid detours.

Tuition fees are rising year by year to fight inflation

When calculating the cost of studying abroad, tuition has always been a big deal. Not long ago, major British universities announced the tuition fees of the 24-year fall master's program, and the tuition fees of some majors in many universities increased by more than 10%.

01

Oxford

At the University of Oxford, for example, the highest tuition in the autumn master's programme for masters in financial economics rose from £48,670 last year to £52,560 this year.

International students will see tuition fees for 24-25 years of undergraduate studies rising to £33,050-£48,620, while undergraduate tuition fees for 22-23 years will still be £27,840-£39,010. For the highest tuition fees in two years, the cost increased by £9,610, an increase of more than 10%

Oxford University website tuition fees

According to the details page of Oxford's undergraduate majors, even the lowest tuition fees cost £38,550, with mathematics tuition rising from £37,380 last year to £41,080, and biochemical engineering and other majors rising from £44,240 to £48,620, both up more than 9%.

02

University of Cambridge

Cambridge University tuition fees have also increased considerably. This year's master's programme tuition fees range from £23,607 to £41,460, with the lowest tuition fee for applied mathematics, rising to £23,607, up 17% from £20,157 last year.

Undergraduate tuition fees ranged from £24,507 to £63,990, up an average of 4% from £23,340-£60,942 last year, with the highest tuition fees for medical majors rising by nearly 5%.

Cambridge University International Undergraduate Program tuition fee 23-24 years

03

Imperial College London

Imperial College London also saw a rise in tuition fees to varying degrees. Undergraduate tuition fees have risen from £32,950-£46,650 in 2022/23 to £36,700-£50,400 in 2023/24, with medical tuition fees increasing by 8%. As for the popular AI major, tuition fees also rose by more than 12% to £37,900 from £33,750 last year.

Imperial College Artificial Intelligence 2023 Tuition Fees

04

London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE)

The London School of Economics, the world's fifth-largest social science university, has also continued to see tuition fees rise this year. Tuition fees for the 24/25 academic year are around £26,184-£28,176, up about 6% from last year's tuition fees.

LSE 24/25 year tuition fee

05

University College London (UCL)

Among the G5 universities in the UK, UCL has also seen a lot of gains. The UCL2024-2025 academic year has a range of around £28,100-£50,300, up an average of 7% from last year's £26,200-£47,000. This year, the undergraduate tuition fee of the clinical medical school also exceeded 50,000 pounds.

UCL 24/25 years of clinical medicine tuition fees reach £50,300

Tips

UK university tuition fees depend on the school and field you are applying for, and are usually indicated directly on the offer letter. The annual tuition fees for British undergraduate students range from 150,000 to 360,000 yuan. The amount of tuition is also related to the length of the course, for example, the UK undergraduate is generally 3 years, but in some regions such as Scotland, the undergraduate is 4 years, and you need to prepare for an additional year of tuition

In N's mother's view, the rising tuition fees of British universities year after year have become a "routine operation". However, rising tuition fees have not shaken the UK's position as a top three study destination in the world. Especially in the past two years, the army of studying abroad has poured into the UK.

According to the latest data from the UK Home Office, as of June 2023, the UK has issued nearly 500,000 UK study visas in one year, an increase of 23% over the previous year.

The soaring number of international students has made the application of British universities "rolled" with the naked eye.

On the 18th of this month, the University of Southampton in the United Kingdom just let go of the application, and the next day the official website hung a full warning, this episode all heralded another fierce battle for this year's British autumn recruitment application.

University of Southampton official website

In the future, the admission war for the resources of high-quality universities in the UK will remain extremely fierce. According to UCAS, the UK's tertiary education application service will reach a staggering 1 million applicants by 2030, an increase of up to 30% compared to 2022.

Rent a house in London, a year in advance of the "second deal"

For future British students, even if they are successfully squeezed ashore, they may still be able to compete in another equally competitive battlefield - "renting a house".

Especially this year's rental market in London has directly opened the "second deal" of grabbing houses.

"For example, if you pay 600 (pounds) a week, another person will immediately pay 650 (pounds), the next one will immediately be 700 (pounds), even if sometimes you succeed in making a deposit, the landlord can turn around and break the contract."

Even though the London rental market is already filled with gunpowder, N's mother still insists on her own rental principle: let her daughter live alone, not too far from school.

"Because you can't guarantee what kind of roommate you will meet." Mother N has heard a particularly extreme example: her daughter's Chinese classmate, who studied in Australia, was arranged to live with a tall black male classmate.

Unfortunately, girls can't complain about changing dormitories — because roommates claim to be transgender, which means girls risk discrimination against transgender people if they file a complaint.

Although the story does not take place in the UK, I dare not imagine that the girl's psychological pressure at that time was not willing to let her daughter have the slightest risk.

Although many universities in the UK will open applications for share rooms to first-year students, she has always felt that for children who are away from home, renting a student apartment with a separate kitchen and bathroom is also a guarantee of safety to some extent.

In addition, affected by the UK public transport strike, N Mama prefers student accommodation within walking distance around the school.

First, it can save more transportation costs, and secondly, even if there is a strike on the day of school, N mother does not have to worry that her child will regret missing the exam because she can't get in the car.

To this end, N's mother deliberately looked for her favorite apartment in the rental market a year in advance. It also happened that she witnessed the amazing increase in renting in London in the past two years.

In 2021, my daughter, who finished her freshman year at home, first arrived in London and began her sophomore year. At that time, due to the epidemic, there were still many vacant houses in London. At that time, UCL parents also pulled a group buying group and successfully rented a four-star hotel apartment near the school for their children at an average price of 10,000 yuan a month half a year in advance.

In 2022, after the epidemic improved, the rental market in central London became hot. There are many students transferred from the United States in the UK, and the demand for rental housing has increased significantly. The rent of the serviced apartment where her daughter lives has also increased nearly fourfold.

In 2023, landlords in the London area who used to be talkative have begun to sit on the floor.

"In the past, I could pick and choose in the rental market and bargain with landlords, but this year, central London listings are going to grab them quickly, and some landlords even ask for video interviews to select tenants, because many landlords think that students do not care about houses and are not happy to rent them to students."

N's mother advises families who are coming to London to study to put renting on the agenda as soon as possible. If you fancy the right house, be sure to start as soon as possible and give yourself enough time to prepare.

After all, according to the leasing data released by real estate agent Hamptons in August, the rental market in the London area is in an unprecedented hot position in history:

The cost of renting in the UK has risen by 12% over the past year, the highest level since 2014. Rents in the London area have risen by 17% compared to the same period last year, and monthly rents have exceeded the £3,000 mark, making it the largest rental increase in the UK.

The UCL where N's daughter attends is in the heart of London, and the rent has always been expensive. A year in advance, the rush allowed N's mother to rent a 15-square-meter student apartment not far from the school for £505 a week.

But as the London rental market has become increasingly tight, rents for the home have risen to more than £700 a week this year. This also means that this year's tenants will have to pay nearly 8,000 yuan more a month than last year to rent this studio apartment in central London.

So what if you choose to share a house in London to save money?

"The price increase is still obvious." N's mother told the Bund that in the previous two years, apartments far from the school could be won at rents of more than 170 pounds a week, but now, the price of a more remote share house has risen to 200 pounds a week. If you want to be closer to the school, the price of a share house this year will be more than 400 pounds.

Tips

Renting in the heart of London: £400-800/week

Renting in non-core areas of London: £200-400/week

According to real estate portal Rightmove, there are now around 20 viewings per property in the UK, and in the northwest of England, the waiting list is as long as 30. These data also indicate that the "house grabbing war" will continue to be staged in the future.

The cost of living in the midst of soaring prices

Manzhang, who is far away in Manchester, does not have the trouble of N mother robbing the house for the time being.

This year, the rent for the studio where he lives has remained at almost £200 a week. Manzhang told the Bund that in the more central areas of Manchester City, rents can reach £300 to £400 a week.

Manzhang also observed that in recent times, many new houses are being built on the roadside streets of Manchester. Perhaps a more balanced supply and demand relationship is also one of the reasons why Manchester's rental market is relatively stable this year.

Even so, Manzhang can still feel the pressure brought by rising prices. "For example, eggs, in the past, 6 eggs were about one pound two, but now they are more than two pounds."

The University of Manchester has also estimated the estimated cost of living for undergraduates in 23-24 years on its website. The on-campus accommodation fee is £160.24 per week, plus transport and meals, and the expected cost is £11,940 for the entire academic year.

In order to save money, Manzhang rarely eats out and cooks at home almost every day, but in addition to rent, his annual living expenses such as water, electricity, coal and Internet access also reach 150,000 to 250,000 yuan. A large part of this is also the cost of maintaining a car.

Manzhang introduced that students under the age of 25 who want to buy a car in the UK often face high car insurance, so international students who are new to Manchester University mostly travel by train. However, older international students will spend more than 100,000 yuan to buy a second-hand car and sell it after leaving the UK, which can not only save money, but also make their lives more convenient.

Manzhang also calculated an account for the Bund Jun: "In Manchester, traffic is still a big deal, for example, in the past, from Manchester to London, the train ticket was about 60 pounds, and now it is mainly the cost of fuel." Originally 120p a litre, it rose to over 200 pence a litre at its peak, but now the price has fallen back to almost 150 pence a litre. In the UK, having a car and not having a car are completely different experiences. ”

Tips

Manchester rental: 200-400 lbs/week

Living expenses (car maintenance) 150,000-300,000 yuan

N's mother's daughter in London also felt the pressure of soaring prices.

Before going to London, N's mother specially prepared a cooking machine for her daughter to buy vegetables and cook. But no matter how it is saved, the fixed monthly expenditure of transport, meals and daily necessities in London is also 700 to 900 pounds.

"Leafy greens are really expensive, and for a while you couldn't even buy tomatoes."

This year, N's daughter was admitted to Oxford University as a graduate student and "fled" London. The daughter reported that the price of food outside in Oxford Chinese restaurants is now seven percent off compared to London, and vegetables and fruits are much cheaper.

Not long ago, Oxford University also gave the standard of living expenses on its official website. A total of £17,595 per school year is needed over nine months, an increase of £1,035 over the previous school year, mainly due to higher costs of food and accommodation.

Living expenses in the Oxford area: £1,345-1,955/month

Of course, there are also extreme money-saving methods. Another international student interviewed by Bund Jun, Marta, chose to live with a British friend in Glasgow, which undoubtedly left her with a large amount of accommodation expenses.

Among the offers, Marta ended up choosing a niche school that didn't have a reputation but offered scholarships. After deducting the scholarship, her tuition expenses are about 100,000 yuan, and the air ticket of more than 6,000 yuan has become the biggest expense in her life recently.

Shortly after arriving in the UK, Marta ate at a Chinese restaurant near the University of Glasgow for £14.

"I feel that the price is similar to Shanghai, like a box of fruits is only two or three pounds, I just came there, strawberries and nectarines are quite cheap."

Adaptation is also an ability

For Marta at this stage, economics is not a problem, and academic studies are the biggest difficulty at present. Although she had done her homework before studying abroad, she found herself underestimating the pressure of reading and writing in an English-speaking environment.

"I don't have any experience of studying in English, but after the start of school, there are a lot of English reading materials, which is still a bit difficult."

Academics are like the "sword of Damocles", hanging over the heads of international students. Both new and old students will face high standards of teaching in British universities.

A glimpse of the UCL campus

Manzhang found that there are many Chinese students who need to take supplementary exams in British universities this year.

"The top of the list is probably the University of Sheffield; The second may be the University of Birmingham, which is expected to have several hundred people who have passed the Birmingham make-up exam this year; In third place is the University of Glasgow, while the rest like York, Exeter and Southampton also have a number of students. Therefore, students in the UK still have to seize the time and study hard. ”

Mother N feels that there are indeed some special circumstances this year.

"For example, college strikes, some children can't get grades, directly face graduation difficulties, and finally have to repeat grades, which is equivalent to paying an extra year of tuition, for a family, it is hundreds of thousands of costs."

N's mother's daughter also failed to get results in two subjects this year. Fortunately, her daughter's total score met the graduation requirements and she was able to graduate successfully.

Therefore, N mother also suggests that children studying in the UK must pay attention to their usual academic achievements and leave a way out for themselves in various "uncertain" environments.

In addition to their studies, children who are alone abroad may encounter various accidents.

Many international students have to learn how to deal with British landlords as a lesson in landing in the UK. Especially after the recent skyrocketing rent in London, it has also caused a lot of disputes.

According to UK regulations, you generally have to pay 5 weeks' rent as a deposit before renting. Now that rents have skyrocketed, the amount of this deposit could be as high as £3,000. Some landlords will also deduct the deposit for various reasons after the student checks out for this generous deposit.

Once, N's mother's daughter was locked in the bathroom because the door lock was broken. It was the weekend and there were no staff left behind in the apartment. The daughter, who was afraid that the violent breaking of the door lock would lead to the deduction of rent, called N's mother for help.

"I told her that your own life safety is the first, and the deposit is the second, so I asked her to find a classmate to pick the lock, the whole process was videotaped, and the email communication with the apartment staff was fixed in the form of text as evidence, and packaged and sent to the landlord. To be honest, I think children are deeply educated by society in the process of renting a house. ”

Not only with landlords, but also with financial scams against them. Mother N introduced that in the past, when paying rent in the UK, it could also be paid monthly or quarterly. But at the moment when the house rush in London is hot, many families choose to pay a year's rent in one lump sum.

In order to save trouble, many families will choose to give this huge amount of rent to their children in advance. "But this leaves room for telecom fraud, and once a 'potential stock' is found, the scammers will find ways to scam the money."

Later, N's mother often hit the child's account with money, staring at her and paying rent immediately, "Don't delay for one more minute, the tricks of scammers are always smarter than we think."

Despite all kinds of hurdles, Mother N also confessed that the two years her daughter studied in London were also her happiest two years.

Every week, my daughter goes to the British Museum to see the latest performances and also goes to the British Library to borrow various materials. In the past two years, many top wonderful performances, my daughter has watched it with pleasure; She also listened to various art exhibitions and master lectures.

Living alone for two years, she honed her daughter's good cooking skills. With her lighting cooking skills, her daughter has gained many friends from different countries and regions in the UK, and has a deeper knowledge and understanding of Western society.

Mother N also specially prepared more than 100,000 European travel expenses for her daughter to observe the world through her daughter's perspective.

Having been exposed to many people and things, and experiencing different scenery, her daughter is now more mature and sensible than before she went abroad, and she is more considerate of her parents' efforts. In the past two years, although the family has lived apart, they are still closely connected with each other.

Read 10,000 books and travel 10,000 miles. Perhaps this is also the meaning of going to the UK to study after a lot of hardships. Broaden horizons in the grinding, challenge life in setbacks, and let children experience and explore the ideal life that truly belongs to them in the best years of life.