Living costs and budgeting

Living costs and budgeting

The cost of living in the UK is high. We recommend that you budget to have over £800 per month of study. This is an estimate but it should be enough to cover your rent, entertainment, travel, and housing and bills. We also recommend that you investigate the best ways to bring money into the UK.

You may be eligible for help with costs. Please check on the Direct Gov website if you are an EU student or on the UKCISA website if you are from outside the EU.

It is impossible to know exactly how much you will spend whilst you are here, but the following forms a break down of the estimated average student expenditure for an academic year based on 39 weeks for pre-clinical students and 52 weeks for clinical students.

Please remember that these are estimated costs so you will need to increase or decrease the figures to meet your circumstances. The number of weeks is generally 39 for pre-clinical students and 52 for clinical students. The tuition fees will also vary depending on your course.

It is important that you have enough money to cover all your costs, but it is also sensible not to take out larger loans than you need.

The Education UK website offers general guide to budget planning in the UK. You can download the British Council publication, Studying and Living in the UK, from the Education UK website.

International Student Calculator

The UK Council for International Student Affairs (UKCISA) have teamed up with Uniaid to develop a new online tool to help international students plan and manage their finances for studies in the UK. We thoroughly recommend you make use of the International Student Calculator. It enables students to:

• Build a lifestyle budget and see how it balances by week, month or over a year
• Understand how you will spend your time as well as your money in the UK
• Get information on insurance and banking as well as guidance on the costs of living
• Learn from case studies and top tips from other students
• Save your budget information so you can use it before arriving or during your study